OpenSciEd Unit 7.4 · Lesson 04
Look for: Plants are taking in carbon dioxide, because…
MS-LS1-5MS-LS2-3Assessment opportunity · Formative assessment
From Teacher Edition
Facilitation guidance from the lesson plan — what to notice in student thinking and how to respond while teaching.
What to look / listen for
Students state that:
- Plants are taking in carbon dioxide, because carbon dioxide levels in the air inside the bag went down. Carbon dioxide has C and O atoms that are also in food molecules.
- Plants are giving off water because the water vapor levels in the air inside the bag went up. That means plants don’t take in water through their leaves, only their roots.
- Students pose questions about the meaning of the water as both an input and an output and what happens to it inside the plant.
What to do
The skill of using data from an investigation as evidence when supporting a claim is one that can be challenging for many students. If students are not using actual evidence from the investigation in this lesson such as the levels of water changing over time, then it could be helpful to summarize this data in bullet points that the students can then use in sentence form.