Crucial Requirements!

Provided Resources

• Challenge PowerPoint
• Top Score Wins PowerPoint
• Task sheets (Yr3/Yr4) - 1 per child
• Plenary cards printed on double backed card and trimmed into 6 individual cards
• Teachers’ Notes

Additional Resources

• Bean seedlings in our investigation - make sure all labels are still clearly visible (redo these if necessary)
• Task sheets (from Session 1) to note measurements and observations
• Tokens for the game - Top Score Wins, use counters, cubes or marbles - you will need up to 80 tokens for 6 teams
• 3 empty squash bottles with the labels removed, cut the neck and “shoulders” off one bottle to make a straight sided plastic vase
• 3 bottles of different food colouring, (e.g. red, green and blue)
• Clear, sealable plastic tubs or bags to protect data loggers outside
• Stems of white flowers, e.g. carnations or chrysanthemums and sticks of leafy celery (enough of each for 1 per table next session)
• Data loggers with light and temperature sensors and ideally software to display data in tabular and graph format

Teaching

• Spot differences in the health of seedlings and begin to think about reasons.
• Investigate the way in which water is transported within plants.

Activities

1. Continue to take notes and measurements on the bean seedlings investigation and report to the class on how their requirement seems to be affecting health and growth (Yrs 3&4).
2. Set up an experiment to investigate the way in which water is transported within plants (Yrs 3&4).
3. Use data loggers to compare light (and temperature) levels inside and outside (Yrs 3&4).
4. Make a summary of class findings from the seedling investigation with notes and drawings of results (Yr3 - brief notes and a drawing, Y4 - more detailed notes including measurements and a drawing).

Investigation - fair testing/problem solving/exploring over time
It’s time to compare the seedlings and think about our findings and what they mean. Take more measurements/ notes and report to the class. Set up further investigations with data loggers (light and temp) and food dye (water transport).
Compare the health of seedlings with none of each requirement to a healthy control plant. Draw each and make notes (both).
Year 3 - Prompt with key words e.g. leggy, yellowed, wilting
Year 4 - Encourage more independence

Vocabulary
Data logger, light level, temperature, wilting, yellowing, requirement, measure, record