Standards Aligned

NGSS

• 2-PS1-2. Analyze data obtained from testing different materials to determine which materials have the properties that are best suited for an intended purpose.
• 2-LS2-1. Plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to grow.
• 2-LS4-1. Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.
• 2-LS2-1. Plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to grow.
• 2-LS4-1. Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.
• 2-LS2-1. Plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to grow.
• 2-LS4-1. Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.

STEELS

• 3.2.2.B Analyze data obtained from testing different materials to determine which materials have the properties that are best suited for an intended purpose.
• 3.1.2.A Plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to grow.
• 3.1.2.C Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.
• 3.1.2.A Plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to grow.
• 3.1.2.C Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.
• 3.1.2.A Plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to grow.
• 3.1.2.C Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.

Learning Objectives

• Students will identify characteristics of different types of plants and propose answers to the question, “What do plants need to live and grow?” by planning and conducting an investigation on environmental effects such as light, water and soil availability.
• Students will plan and conduct an investigation to test environmental factors on corn.
• Students will find patterns in their findings, and identify what corn needs to live and grow (evidence).
• Students will record survival rates and represent these on a bar graph.
• Students will conclude from observations that plants depend on water and light to grow in their environments.

Materials

• “We Grow Corn: Raising Corn on a Kansas Family Farm” by Sharon Thielen, Ph.D
• Lesson Google Slides
• Observation and Recording Sheet
• Labels or markers
• Post it notes (roughly 20-30 sheets per student)
• Paper
• Pencils
• Crayons/colored pencils (green and yellow)
• Play Doh/Clay
• Pipe cleaners
• Fan/Blow dryer
• Corn seed
• Soil, sand, rocks, etc.
• Variety of liquids (water, soda, juice)
• Grow light (if available)
• Basin or plastic plates to set pots by a window
• Measuring spoon (for watering)
• Cups/pots (example: styrofoam cups for planting)

Lesson 1

Overview

This lesson introduces students to the characteristics and needs of plants. Through a hands-on STEM
activity and class discussions, students explore how environmental factors, such as light, water, and physical
characteristics impact plant growth. By engaging in a guided investigation and analyzing data, students will
understand that plants depend on specific conditions to thrive.

Learning Objectives

• Students will identify characteristics of different types of plants and propose answers to the question, “What do plants need to live and grow?” by planning and conducting an investigation on environmental effects such as light, water and soil availability.

Standards Aligned

NGSS

• 2-PS1-2. Analyze data obtained from testing different materials to determine which materials have the properties that are best suited for an intended purpose.
• 2-LS2-1. Plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to grow.
• 2-LS4-1. Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.

STEELS

• 3.2.2.B Analyze data obtained from testing different materials to determine which materials have the properties that are best suited for an intended purpose.
• 3.1.2.A Plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to grow.
• 3.1.2.C Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.

Materials

• “We Grow Corn: Raising Corn on a Kansas Family Farm” by Sharon Thielen, Ph.D
• Lesson 1 Google Slides
• “Type of Corn” Video
• Play Doh/Clay
• Pipe cleaners
• Fan/Blow dryer
• Paper
• Pencils
• Crayons/colored pencils (green and yellow)

Assessments

• Review student’s drawings and categorizations of plants (indoor vs outdoor).
• Participation in discussions and ability to articulate plant characteristics and needs.
• Observations from the STEM activity, including explanations of why certain model plants remained standing.

Key Points

• Plants have common characteristics (roots, stems, leaves).
• Plants require specific conditions (light, water and soil) to grow and survive.
• Structural strength, such as roots, affects a plant’s ability to withstand environmental factors like wind, which is critical for outdoor growth.

Teacher Guide
Opening

• Slide 1: “Draw or write on your paper as many different plants as you can think of.” (Give students 5 minutes to brainstorm)
• Slide 2 (plant pictures): When time is up lead class discussion with guiding questions such as:
  • Where have you seen these plants before?
  • How do we know they are plants?
  • What characteristics do they have in common? (explore different leaf sizes, stem sizes, etc)
•  Slide 3: “Looking at the plants you drew, think of which ones would grow indoors and which ones would grow outside.”
  • Why can some plants live inside and grow to be healthy?
  • Why can’t an inside plant grow outside?
  • Why would an outside plant not do well inside?
  • What do all plants need to live and grow?
• Slide 4: Discuss needs of indoor plants (water, light, soil, etc).
• Slide 5: Discuss needs of outside plants (water, light, soil, etc) “If the needs are similar, what makes them different to survive in either inside or outside?” (physical characteristics–roots, stems, leaf sizes).
• Slide 6: “Look again at your plant drawings. Circle the ones you think would grow inside in green. Circle the ones that would grow outside in yellow. Remember…some might be both!”

Guided Practice

• Provide each student with Play Doh and 2-3 pipe cleaners. Have them make a plant out of each material. (2 plants total)
• Plants must be able to stand on their own.
• Give students 10 minutes to build their plants.
• Once completed, have students bring their plants to a table.
• Engage the fan/blow dryer and have students observe which plants stay standing and which ones fall.
• Dialogue:
  • Teacher: Which plants do you think would grow better outside?
  • Students: The ones that didn’t fall.
  • Teacher: Why?
  • Students: Because they have stronger roots and bigger stems.

Closing

• Teacher: “Great work, everyone! You explored so many different kinds of plants and used your thinking skills to figure out what plants need to live and grow. Through your drawings, your creative plant models, and our fun test with the fan, we learned that strong roots help plants survive in the outdoors, and that water, light and soil are important for all plants. You even began thinking like scientists by asking questions, making predictions, and observing what happened during our activity. So we learned what a plant needs to survive (light, water, soil) but why do we need plants?”
  • Give time for discussion.
• Teacher: “Tomorrow we will be exploring corn. Why is corn so important to us?”
• Students might say for humans to eat, food for feeding birds, etc.
• Teacher: “These are good answers! Corn is used all over the world and in many different ways. Did you know there are different types of corn? Yes! One type is sweet corn, which we eat, but the most grown corn is dent corn which is used for thousands of other products.
  • Watch the “Types of Corn” video about the difference between dent corn and sweet corn.
  • “Anything surprise you about what you learned in the video?”
•  “Let’s learn more about dent corn”
  • Using the “We Grow Corn! Raising Corn on a Kansas Family Farm” read through pages 16-21 discussing the different usages of dent corn.
• Teachers: “Next time, we’ll dig even deeper into how a corn plant grows and why corn is such an important crop. Keep wondering and keep growing—just like the plants we talked about today!”

Lesson 2

Overview

This lesson introduces students to the characteristics and needs of plants. Through a hands-on STEM activity
and class discussions, students will explore how environmental factors, such as light, water, and soil impact
plant growth. By engaging in a guided investigation and analyzing data, students will understand that all plants
depend on specific conditions to thrive.

Learning Objectives

• Students will plan and conduct an investigation to test environmental factors on corn.

Standards Aligned

NGSS

• 2-LS2-1. Plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to grow.
• 2-LS4-1. Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.

STEELS

• 3.1.2.A Plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to grow.
• 3.1.2.C Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.

Materials

• Lesson 2 Google Slides
• Observation and Recording sheet
• Corn seed
• Soil, sand, rocks, etc.
• Variety of liquids (water, soda, juice)
• Grow light (if available)
• Basin or plastic plates to set pots by a window
• Measuring spoon (for watering)
• Cups/pots (example: styrofoam cups for planting)
• Labels or markers

Assessments

• Planning Sheet entries (Formative Assessment)
• Observation and Recording sheet Analysis (Summative Assessment)

Key Points

• Students will conduct a controlled experiment testing how one environmental factor (light, water, or soil) affects corn growth, while keeping other variables constant.
• The lesson emphasizes scientific thinking by having students plan, observe, and record data like real agriculture scientists.
• A control plant will be used for comparison, helping students understand standard growing conditions (conditions found in a farm field) and evaluate the effects of their variables.

Teacher Guide
Review Lesson 1

• Teacher: “What are some things that plants need to grow?”
• Students: “Light, water, soil”
• Teacher: “Where do plants grow?”
• Students: “Inside and outside”
• Teacher: “What are some characteristics that help us know which plants grow where?”
• Students: “Leaf sizes, roots, stems”’
• Teacher: “Farmers need to consider the same needs and provide the best conditions for their plants to live and grow. Today we are going to be agriculture scientists and investigate the needs of corn plants.
• See slide: Agriculture scientists are people who do investigations in order to solve problems or improve how we produce food. You are going to be agriculture scientists to figure out what a corn plant needs to grow. Other scientists may investigate the best feed to give to animals (did you know corn is used in dog food and cattle feed?) or what kind of nutrients need added to the soil to help plants grow better. These are just a few examples.
• Teachers: “Do you remember from yesterday why corn is important? Remember, the whole world uses corn. Do you remember which type of corn is grown the most? (dent corn) Can you share some of the main uses for dent corn?”
  • Quick discussion with students about what they remember from the reading yesterday. The two top uses of dent corn are Ethanol (Fuel) and Feed.
  • Show slide on uses of corn.
• Teacher: “Today we will be conducting an experiment to see what a corn plant needs in order to grow.
  We know it needs light, water and soil. However, if we change one of those needs, will the plant still
  grow? For our experiment we will be growing dent corn.”
  • Teacher: “Let’s take a look at the materials for our scientific investigation.” Show them the materials they have to plan an investigation (planting pots, soil, measuring spoons for water, possible grow light, items to block light, etc.), and tell them how much time they will have (consider 2 – 4 weeks for full investigation).
  • Students will eventually be put in groups to test only one variable (light, water, or soil) but introduce what each group will be monitoring to the whole class.
• Pass out the Observation and Recording sheet. As you describe what each group is testing, refer to how students will be recording their data.
• Optional: Check out the Noun Project. Students can browse the icons for ideas on what to draw as a
  way to describe variables and conditions. This offers success to all students regardless of reading/writing
  abilities. The link to the Noun Project can be pushed out on Google Classroom for students to look at
  independently.

Control Plant

• Before students are placed in a team, the teacher will set up the controlled plant. The teacher will set up the control plant in front of the class. This allows the teacher to model what variables will stay the same and will model how students will plant their corn. The teacher will plant three dent corn kernels using soil and a specific amount of water (2 TBSP of water) daily to water their plant. The plant will also be placed in the classroom or area of the school that gets the most sunlight.
• The teacher can put up an archer chart or write on the board how much soil was used, how much water will be given daily and what type of light the plant will receive during the entire experiment.
• Explain that the control plant is as close to what a corn plant would receive in a farm field with ideal conditions. When students are placed in their team; team light, water or soil, have students refer back to the control plant to make sure that only the variable they are testing is changed. Remind them that they will compare their plants to the control plant during the growing process.
• Slides provided will help with the explanation of all of these steps as well.

Team Light

• Teacher: “If you are Team Light, you will be investigating whether the amount or type of light affects plant growth. In order for this experiment to be a TRUE experiment that a scientist would run, your group will use the same amount of soil and the same amount of water as our control plant.”
• Engage students in a discussion as to what type of experiments could be observed.
• Examples of where to grow your plant:
  • By a window with lots of sunlight
  • Across the room from a window (small amount of sunlight)
  • In a closet with no natural light (lightbulb only)
  • In a cabinet with zero light
• Refer to the slide with examples of how to complete the Observation and Recording sheet.
• Refer to slides with steps to plant and water.

Team Water

• Teacher: “If you are Team Water, you will be investigating whether the type of liquid affects plant growth. In order for this experiment to be a TRUE experiment that a scientist would run, your group will use the same amount of soil and the same amount of light.”
• Engage students in a discussion as to what type of experiments could be observed.
• Examples of types of liquids for your plant:
  • From a water fountain/sink
  • Soda
  • Juice
• To be a TRUE experiment, each plant needs to receive the same out of liquid each day. So if the control plant receives 2 TBSP of water, these plants will need to receive 2 TBSP of the liquid being used.
• Refer to the slide with examples of how to complete the Recording and Observation sheet.
• Refer to slides with steps to plant and water.

Team Soil

• Teacher: “If you are Team Soil, you will be investigating whether the type of soil affects plant growth.
• In order for this experiment to be a TRUE experiment that a scientist would run, your group will use the same amount of water and same amount of sunlight.”
• Engage students in a discussion as to what type of experiments could be observed.
• Examples of types of soil for your plant, ensure all pots receive same amount of soil and alternative soil:
  • Soil collected from outside
  • Potting soil (note: contain additional nutrients)
  • Wood chips
  • Torn Kleenex
  • Rocks
  • Leaves, composts from home, etc.

Closing

• “Over the next couple weeks we will refer back to our plants and take data on our observations by drawing what we see on our Recording and Observation sheets.”
• “Let’s recap: Today, you all did an amazing job stepping into the role of agriculture scientists! You worked together to plan real experiments that will help us find out what corn plants really need to grow. Whether your group is testing light, water, or soil, you’re asking important questions and using science to find answers. Just like farmers and agriculture scientists, you’re learning how to care for plants and understand how our environment affects them. As we watch our plants over the next few weeks, we’ll compare them to the control plant and look for patterns. Keep observing, asking questions, and thinking like scientists— your discoveries will help us understand how corn, one of the most important crops in our country, grows best!

Extension

Over the next couple of weeks have students make daily observations of their corn plant. Add in time for discussion and time for students to be able to look at and talk to other classmates about their experiment. Remember to always bring your control plant out and have students compare their plant to the control plant.

• While the corn is growing, use the “We Grown Corn! Raising Corn on a Kansas Family Farm” book. The suggested pages allow for discussion in small chunks throughout the 2-4 weeks of growing.
  • Pages 2-3: What does a family farm look like?
  • Pages 4-5: What type of machinery does a farmer use?
  • Pages 6-11: Planting corn and how the farmer helps it grow.
  • Pages 12-15: Harvesting corn. How does that happen and why is it a family event?
• Have students learn more about ethanol by visiting Ethanol in the Classroom online game.

Lesson 3

Overview

In this lesson, students will analyze the results of their plant investigations from Lesson 2. Acting as agricultural scientists, they will identify patterns in their plant growth observations, use evidence to determine what corn needs to grow, and represent survival rates through a bar graph. This lesson emphasizes data interpretation, group discussion, and drawing scientific conclusions based on real experiments.

Learning Objective

• Students will find patterns in their findings, and identify what corn needs to live and grow (evidence).
• Students will record characteristics comparing their plants to the control plant using a bar graph.
• Students will conclude from observations that plants depend on water, light and soil to grow in their environments.

Standards Aligned

NGSS

• 2-LS2-1. Plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to grow.
• 2-LS4-1. Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.

STEELS

• 3.1.2.A Plan and conduct an investigation to determine if plants need sunlight and water to grow.
• 3.1.2.C Make observations of plants and animals to compare the diversity of life in different habitats.

Materials

• Post it notes (roughly 20-30 sheets per student)
• Existing plants
• Observation and Recording sheet from Lesson 2
• Lesson 3 Google Slides

Assessments

• Observation and Recording sheet Entries (Formative Assessment): Evaluate student observations, flipbook drawings, and reflections on plant growth.
• Bar Graph Interpretation (Summative): Assess students’ ability to interpret and explain the class bar graph (either verbally or through a written response).

Key Points

• Students analyze and compare their plant growth data to identify patterns and determine which conditions (light, water, soil) support healthy corn growth.
• They collaborate in mixed-variable groups, discuss their findings using flipbook drawings, and represent characteristic comparisons in a bar graph.
• Students draw evidence-based conclusions, reinforcing how scientists use data to understand what plants need to thrive.

Teacher Guide
Review Lesson 2

• Teacher: “What were the 3 conditions we tested our plants in?” (water, light, soil)
• Teacher: “What variables had to stay constant in order for it to be a true experiment?” (depending on condition tested, the amount or type)
• Teacher: “In a minute you’re going to sit with your groups and I want you to analyze your data/observations, exactly like agricultural scientists would do. Take a look at your drawings in your journals.
• Recreate those drawings on the post it notes. Try to keep your drawings consistent so that when you flip through the post-its, it will look like the plant is growing.”
• “Then we’ll form new groups with a representative from each variable (water, light, soil) where you’ll discuss the overall findings using your flip books.”
  • Give approximately 5 minutes to draw.
• Teacher: “Here are the specifics on what I’d like you to discuss within your groups:”
  • “Compare drawings. How did your plant grow in its condition? What do you think made it grow/not grow?” (Give 10 minutes for students to discuss)
  • “Now bring your flip books to your new groups and discuss how the different variables and conditions affect growth of the corn plants.” (give another 10 minutes to discuss)
  • Return to the whole class. Teacher draws a bar graph on the board.
  • Teacher: “Let’s visualize our data. On one side, the y axis is going to represent the number of plants that look similar to the control plant. One the bottom, or x axis, is going to be the condition. Remember those were water, light, and soil.”
  • Ask students to raise their hands regarding who had a surviving plant that looked like the control plant within each condition.
  • Analyze data. Ask students questions such as:
    •  “What were the best growing conditions?”
    • “How did the plants tell you that?”’
    • “What is your evidence?”
    • “What overall conclusion could we make?” (The amount of light, water, and soil do make a difference in plant growth success.)
• Teacher: “After participating in your own experiment, how would you describe the process in which scientists discover their findings?” (they make controlled observations and analyze their data using evidence.)
• “I’m impressed, everyone! You’ve worked like true agricultural scientists, observing, analyzing, and discussing what corn plants need to thrive. By creating your flip books and bar graphs, you’ve seen how water, light, and soil impact plant growth. Your evidence shows that plants depend on these conditions to survive, just like we saw in our experiment. As we wrap up, think about Farmer Ken—based on what you learned, do you think he’ll have a successful corn crop if he provides enough water, light, and good soil? I’m so proud of your hard work and discoveries today! Keep thinking like scientists as you observe the world around you.”

Extension
See what your students learned by challenging them to an online breakout box activity. This can be done as a large group, individually or in small groups. How Does it Grow Breakout Box