Scientist in the Classroom on Thinking Thursday

It was great to have a guest scientist in today to begin our exploration of Plant Growth and Changes.

Scientists in school is a Great progam that is  INSPIRING FUTURE INNOVATORS TO PURSUE STEM CAREERS

http://www.scientistsinschool.ca/

The future of Canada depends on the next generation of innovators and entrepreneurs. We engage children in hands-on classroom and community STEM workshops, encouraging them to question, investigate and discover science in the world around them.

Here are some photos for you to enjoy and discuss with your child:

Capturing carbon dioxide CO2.  Did you know we breath out CO2?  

The test tube with CO2 is a different color than the one with oxygen only.  I wonder why? 

Recording our results from the experiment.

Testing out how photosynthesis works in parsley leaves.  We used artificial light to spark the synthesis of light + water+C02  can you guess what happened? 

Dissecting flowers into there reproductive parts.  

Scientist Penny helps find the stagma.  

The labeled parts 

Mindful Focus on the dissection.

Amazingly powerful microscopes provide close observation of different seeds.  Did you know that different seeds have different adaptations to help them spread?  

Connection to light and shadow, the paper is translucent so you can see the shadow of the leaf behind it!

Sorting different items that come from plants.  

Light again, really important for the growth of plants.  How would plants get their food without photosynthesis?

Guessing plants using our sense of smell and context clues.  Recognize any of these?

Thanks very much to our fabulous parent volunteer!

Leaf rubbing to discover leaf characteristics

Penny shows us how to make paper out of the unused plant parts, water and newspaper.  

Working together to spread and strain the mixture, using a screen and wax paper.  

Adding decorative plant parts to the paper.  Nature, is the greatest recycler!

The end result, now we just have to let it dry for 5-7 days.  Beautiful!

Doing our own observation of seeds soaking ready to plant and track the growth using different variables in the classroom.

Students complete an OWI chart in their visual sketch journals.  What do they observe (size, shape, color, weight of seeds)?  What questions do they have about the seeds?  and  What Inferences can they make to answer their questions?