How can we start growing plants in the classroom?

A Web Quest for 6th Grade Science

Designed by:

Ms. Fischer

Introduction

Eating vegetables has many health benefits! What better way to eat vegetables than eating ones that you grow yourself? As part of our nutrition project, we are going to have a Nutrition Expo so you can teach your friends and family what you learn in science class. In order to encourage our community members to eat vegetables, we are going to sell vegetable seedlings that we grow in class. These seedlings can be transplanted to bigger pots so that they can grow and produce vegetables.

In class we are going to grow the seedlings; however, the buyers will need to know how to continue caring for their seedling. In this webquest you are going to look up information for growing tomatoes, peppers and eggplants. You will also find some easy recipes that include these vegetables. Finally, you will make instruction cards that we will give to people when they buy the seedlings at the Expo.

Big Question: How can we grow tomatoes, green peppers and egg plants at home?

The Task

In this WebQuest each group will be responsible for making an instruction card for transplanting the vegetable seedlings to bigger pots. You also need to find the nutritional facts and some recipes for the vegetable.

At the end of April we will have a Nutrition Expo, where we will sell the vegetable seedlings we grow in class. Your instruction cards will be given to buyers so they can take care of their new plant. Work hard so that the buyers will have good instructions!

The Process

1.  First, you will be assigned to a team of 3 other students. You will work together to do your research and make your instruction cards.

2.  Once you have your group, you will begin to look at the sites provided in this WebQuest. There are links to videos and WebPages that you can use to find information for your instruction cards. Use the note sheets attached to take notes. Make sure to write down where you get your information so that you can site your sources.

3.  After you looked at all the sites provided, you can also look at other sites for more information if you feel that you still need more information.

4.  Once you have all the information you need, you will begin to make your instruction cards.

5.  All groups will present their nutrition cards to the class.


Conclusion

By the end of this activity, I hope that you will be able to explain to someone how they can transplant their new vegetable seedling and grow a healthy vegetable plant. You should also be able to tell them fun ways they can eat their vegetable.

Growing vegetables can be fun and exciting! I hope after you do this project you will want to grow your own plants.

Evaluation

Your WebQuest will be graded based on the following rubric. Some grades are group grades and other grades are individual as noted below.

Beginning
1 / Developing
2 / Accomplished
3 / Exemplary
4 / Score
Notes
(Individual Grade) / Sloppy and incomplete notes. Only completes one task. / Incomplete notes. Only completes two tasks. / Sloppy notes but completes all tasks. / Complete and accurate notes and completes all tasks.
Instruction Card
(Group Grade) / Poorly written instruction card. It looks rushed and sloppy. Only completes one task. / Well-written instruction card but not very neat. Only completes two tasks. / Well-written instruction card Neat and some visual appeal. Completes all tasks: transplantation instructions, nutritional facts and recipes. / Well-written instruction card Very neat and visually appealing with pictures. Completes all tasks: transplantation instructions, nutritional facts and recipes.
Presentation
(Group Grade) / Not organized and not all group members participate / Some planning evident but not everyone participates / Organized presentation but heavily dominated by one or two group members / Organized, clear and informative presentation; all group members share
Group Work and Contribution
(Individual Grade as determined by other group members) / Played around a lot and wasted a lot of work time; minimal contributions to group work and distracting presence / Minimal contributions but stayed on task; did not disrupt work but did not help much either / Participated but not individually motivated; needed prompting from group members and teacher / Individually motivated and actively participated in the WebQuest; contributed to the final presentation

Resources for Instruction Cards

General Information for Growing Vegetables in Pots Indoors

·  http://www.ehow.com/how_5128925_grow-vegetables-pots.html

·  http://www.ehow.com/how_2070320_plant-vegetables-pot.html

·  http://www.ehow.com/how_6315346_grow-vegetables-indoors-apartment.html

·  http://www.ehow.com/how_4880254_grow-vegetables-inside.html

Tomatoes

1.  How to transplant tomatoes:

·  http://www.ehow.com/how_6471271_transplant-very-young-tomato-plants.html

·  http://www.ehow.com/how_6173728_start-tomato-plants-inside.html

·  http://faq.gardenweb.com/faq/lists/tomato/2005015135020413.html

2.  Nutritional facts for tomatoes:

·  http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2682/2

3.  Recipes using tomatoes:

·  http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Corn-Salad/Detail.aspx

·  http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Gazpacho-Salad/Detail.aspx

·  http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Green-Pepper-Tomato-Salad/Detail.aspx

·  http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Spiral-Pasta-Salad/Detail.aspx

Green Peppers

4.  How to transplant green peppers:

·  http://www.ehow.com/how_5073270_transplant-pepper-plants.html

5.  Nutritional facts for green peppers:

·  http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2536/2

6.  Recipes using green peppers:

·  See tomato recipes.

Eggplants

7.  How to transplant egg plants:

·  http://www.ehow.com/how_9874_grow-eggplant.html

8.  Nutritional facts for eggplants:

·  http://www.nutritiondata.com/facts/vegetables-and-vegetable-products/2444/2

9.  Recipes using eggplants:

·  http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Eggplant-Casserole/Detail.aspx

·  http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Eggplant-Delight/Detail.aspx

Use this website to get more health information about each vegetable.

·  http://whfoods.org/foodstoc.php

Notes:

What do you need to grow plants in pots? Can you grow plants indoors? What do you need?
What are the steps for transplanting the seedling to its new pot?
What are the nutrient facts of each vegetable? Why is each vegetable good for you?
What are some recipes you think look tasty? Do you think your family could make this food? Why or why not?