Science Experiments in First Grade
Building Understanding through Inquiry and Discussion (Virtual Tour)
Stage of Literacy Development:
Stage 1: Beginning LiteracyStage 2: Consolidation / Fluency
Ages:
5-9
Grade Range:
K 1st 2nd 3rdFood Groups:
Primary: Knowledge Building Secondary: Oral Language & ELL, Motivation for Literacy
Transcript
Here we have another example of things that we were working on in science, in this case. We got to plant beans and see them grow. We actually had one in the darkness that was in a closet with no light and see what happened to it. You can see that it didn't survive unfortunately, at first it grew like crazy trying to look for light but because at some point it couldn't find it, it just ended up dying. You can see that some are doing better than others. I wanted them to see what happens when they don't take care of living things. One of the characteristics that we discussed was that they die. They have many characteristics, but eventually they do die. Especially if they don't take care of them and when they discovered that, they were like "oh". Well were you taking care of it? "No, I forgot to water it, I didn't water it for many days and they died". It's something that happens and they learn that way and that's science.
Related References
Additional Links:
Reading Rockets: Literacy in the Sciences http://www.readingrockets.org/extras/stem_series
Activity Objective
The goal of Science Experiments in First Grade: Building Understanding through Inquiry and Discussion (Virtual Tour) is to give students an opportunity to engage in a science-related inquiry, to explore the various changes they notice as their beans grow. This teacher uses the science project to encourage students to discuss how plants grow and the consequences of not providing plants with what they need to survive and flourish.
Quick Tips
Additional Comments:
- Try putting some of the plants outdoors, next to the window, or even in the closet so that students can make predictions and inferences throughout the growing process. - Growing plants and doing science projects with them in the classroom provides a motivating opportunity for young students to learn to write up experiments, including sections on materials, procedures, predictions, observations and outcomes.
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