Lesson Plan

Target Audience:
4th Grade Science class

Big Idea:
Students will control variables to determine the effect on plant growth.
The student will:
collect information by observing and measuring
construct simple graphs, tables, maps and charts to organize, examine and evaluate information.

Overall Goal:
Students will be able to incorporate the use of computers.
Students will display data and observations of plant growth in Microsoft Excel and create a bar graph reflecting this data. The students will:
use a variety of input devices such as a mouse, keyboard, disk drive, etc.
produce documents at the keyboard, proofread and correct errors
use appropriate applications including, but not limited to, spreadsheets and databases to develop charts and graphs by using data from various sources
publish information in a variety of media including, but not limited to, printed copy, monitor display, etc.

Standards:
4.1.5: Demonstarte how measuring insurments can be used to gather accurate information for making scientific comparisons of objects and events.

Schedule of Activities:
Directions:Students will make observations and record data on plant growth between two plants with one variable changed. This data will be displayed on a spreadsheet, then used to create a bar graph that shows the difference in plant height between the control and experimental plants.
In the Classroom:
Students will work in groups of three on an assigned plant growth investigation (Plants and Sunlight, Plants and Air, Plants and Water, Plants and Warmth). Discuss the variables for each experiment. Discuss variables, control and experimental.
During a five day period, students will make observations and record data using Data Sheets 1 - 5.
In the Lab:
Open Microsoft Excel.
Begin by typing the headings in row 1. Type "Plant Height" in cell B1, "Number of leaves" in cell D1, and "Observations" in cell F1. Place the cursor on the "1" of row 1 and click. This will highlight all of row 1. From the Formatting Toolbar select Font Size, 12. Then, click on the B to bold it.
Then go to Format, Column and AutoFit selection. This will allow more room to type observations.
Type plant identification labels for each heading. Type "Plant "A" in cells B3, D3, and F3. Type "Plant "B" in cells C3, E3, and G3. When the graph is created, these will be called the series.
Next, identify the days observations were made in Column A. In cell A4 type "Mon.," cell A5 type "Tues.," A6 "Wed.," A7 "Thurs.," A8 "Fri." Abbreviations are used to make the labels clearer in the graph.
You are now ready to record the data using Data Sheets 1 - 5. Begin with Monday (row 4) and fill in the plant height for plant A (cell B4) and plant B (cell C4). Then, fill in the number of leaves for plant A (cell D4) and plant B (cell E5). Lastly, fill in any observations for plant A (cell F4) and plant B (cell G4). Repeat these steps until all data is input. When finished, double check to make sure that the data is correct!
When all data is entered, click and hold the cursor on cell A3, then drag it until all cells from A3 to C3 are highlighted. Then, drag it down to row 8. When all cells selected are highlighted, release the mouse and go to the Menu Bar. Select Insert, Chart. Select Column, Clustered Column from the Gallery. Click Next, Next.
Under Chart title, choose a name for your experiment, i.e. "Plants and Sunlight," "Plants and Air," "Plants and Water," "Plants and Warmth." Name your Value (Y) axis as Height cm. Click Next. Make sure As object in: is selected. Click Finish.
Move your arrow over the numbers in the Y axis and double click. This will give you a screen that says Format Axis. Click on the Scale tab. On the Minimum box choose 0, Maximum 20, and Major unit 2. Click OK.
Next click the legend so there are black squares all around it and drag it to the upper right hand corner of the graph.
The graph will appear on the spreadsheet. Click on the graph and drag it downward so that the data on the spreadsheet can be seen. (The graph may also need to be stretched so the numbers on the Y axis can be seen clearly.)
Print a hard copy by selecting File on the Menu Bar, Page Setup, change paper orientation to landscape. Click OK. Go back to File on the Menu Bar and select Print, then OK.
Select File from the Menu Bar, then choose Save As. In the Save in box click on the arrow/delta and choose 3 1/2 Floppy (A) and in the File name box, type in the title of your spreadsheet. Click Save and take out your disk.

Assessment:

I will uise a Scoring Rubric--Spreadsheet to assess my students.
The following is what i would assess and how many points they would recieve
Headings
10 pts.
Labels
10 pts.
Days
10 pts.
Input data
30 pts.
Chart/Graph
.
Define axes
10 pts.
Define series
10 pts.
Define labels
10 pts.
Presentation
10 pts.
Total
100 pts.

Materials Needed:
Microsoft Excel, data sheets