What If . . .? Time to Experiment! Planting "Experimental" Journey North Plots Level: 3+ Journal Page: What If . . .? Digging Deeper with Tulips Standards Overview: When students plant tulips according to Journey North's rules (protocol), questions are bound to arise. For instance, "What if we broke the rules and planted them upside down? Or put them 10 inches underground instead of 7 inches? Or grew them one on top of the other?" Use these types of questions as a springboard for student-designed growing experiments. Try This: 1) Plant your Official Journey North Garden garden this fall EXACTLY as instructed in the Planting Instructions. Younger students should understand that kids in all Journey North gardens have been asked to keep everything the same. Older students should understand the importance of following a scientific protocol. They should realize that the planting instructions ensure that all variables (e.g., planting depth) are treated the same way in every garden. The only difference is the geography/location of the gardens. Next, invite the class to explore their own questions and design investigations to find answers. 2) Make a chart of questions students had when they planted their "official" garden. For example, "Does it matter if tulips are planted in the shade?" Together, try to turn these into "What if . . .?" questions that could be tested in an Experimental Garden plot. (Tip: See Framing Testable Questions.) Allow younger students to try out their ideas. Remind older students that they should test only one variable (e.g., planting depth) at a time. 3) Next, plant an Experimental Garden plot to test each question you'd like to investigate. (You can later compare outcomes to your official Journey North garden, which will serve as a "control.") 4) Complete the first four entries on the journal page, What If . . .? Digging Deeper with Tulips. In late winter or spring, students should be able to complete the journal page. 5) Important: Next spring, ONLY report to Journey North about your OFFICIAL JOURNEY NORTH GARDEN. (But please tell us what you learned from your EXPERIMENTAL GARDEN in the "Comments" section of your report.) If you're looking for more ideas for an Experimental Garden, why not try your skills at our Annual Microclimate Challenge? Sample Journey North Classroom Experiment Experimental Designs Watch It Now Tips "This year we are planting our tulips in 4 stages. We are planting 3 groups of 5 on a west facing slope: one group on October 7th, the second on November 4th and the third will be planted early in December - all planted according to the JN directions. The other 2 groups of 5 were planted on November 12. (So we have an early group and a late one.) The early ones were planted next to the school building facing south. The late ones were planted north of the building a little deeper than 7 inches, and where they will only get sun from the west. Does when the bulbs are planted in the fall make a difference as to when they emerge and bloom? Hopefully, we will find out next spring." - — Belle Sherman Elementary, Ithaca, NY (Note: These students are testing more than one variable at a time. In the spring, how will they know whether the planting date or the exposure of the slope affected when tulips emerged and bloomed? In the spring, they just might discover something about the science process!) National Science Education Standards Science as Inquiry Ask a question about objects, organisms, events. (K-4) Identify questions that can be answered through scientific investigations. (5-8) Plan and conduct a simple investigation. (K-4) Design and conduct a scientific investigation. (5-8) Scientists use different kinds of investigations depending on the questions they are trying to answer. Types of investigations include describing objects, events, and organisms; classifying them; and doing a fair test (experimenting). (K-4) Different kinds of questions suggest different kinds of scientific investigations. (5-8)   This Season Teachers Kids Orientation Registration Search Copyright 1997-2009 Journey North. All Rights Reserved. Questions or comments? Contact us.