December – February
Scientific inquiry is a way of doing science that includes making observations, forming hypotheses, designing studies, collecting data, and drawing conclusions. While spending time in the greenhouse and other growing spaces, even in winter, students will design and conduct a simple investigation to learn about farming through the inquiry process.
Ohio Science Standards:
- SIPA Grade 3-5: Observe and ask questions about the world that can be answered through scientific investigations.
- SWK Grade 3-5: Science is a way of knowing about the world around us based on evidence from experimentation and observations.
- SWK Grade 6-8: Science is a way of knowing about the world around us based on evidence from experimentation and observations.
- SWK Grade 6-8: Science is a continual process and the body of scientific knowledge continues to grow and change.
NGSS Standards:
- 3-LS4-3 Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all.
- 4-PS3-2.Make observations to provide evidence that energy can be transferred from place to place by sound, light, heat, and electric currents.
- 5-ESS3-1 Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment.
- 5-PS3-1:Use models to describe that energy in animals’ food (used for body repair, growth, motion, and to maintain body warmth) was once energy from the sun.
- 5-ESS3-1 Obtain and combine information about ways individual communities use science ideas to protect the Earth’s resources and environment.
- MS – LS2-1. Analyze and interpret data to provide evidence for the effects of resource availability on organisms and populations of organisms in an ecosystem.
- MS-PS3-3. Apply scientific principles to design, construct, and test a device that either minimizes or maximizes thermal energy transfer.
Social Studies Standards (K-8):
- Geography – Spatial Thinking and Skills: Spatial thinking examines the relationships among people, places and environments by mapping and graphing geographic data. Geographic data are compiled, organized, stored and made visible using traditional and geospatial technologies. Students need to be able to access, read, interpret and create maps and other geographic representations as tools of analysis.
- Government – Civic Participation and Skills: Civic participation embraces the ideal that an individual actively engages in his or her community, state or nation for the common good. Students need to practice effective communication skills including negotiation, compromise and collaboration. Skills in accessing and analyzing information are essential for citizens in a democracy.
- Economics – Economic Decision Making and Skills: Effective economic decision making requires students to be able to reason logically about key economic issues that affect their lives as consumers, producers, savers, investors and citizens. Economic decision-making and skills engage students in the practice of analyzing costs and benefits, collecting and organizing economic evidence and proposing alternatives to economic problems.
Vocabulary: Observation, Investigation, Comparative Question, Data, Analysis