We All Need Trees - NRCS Poster Contest

Mr. Westerman, NRCS district conservationist, met with students in the outdoor classroom to give a presentation over native trees.  Students were able to enjoy hands on experience with five species of trees that are prevalent in Greenwood County; the eastern cottonwood, green ash, black willow, red oak, and eastern red cedar.

Students learned about the characteristics that help identify the trees and ways that the trees contribute to the ecosystem.  They also learned how to tell more about a tree by counting the rings and looking for scars in the heartwood.

Keila Sherman then introduced students to an NRCS poster contest. The posters drawn by students will describe reasons why we all need trees. Students were able to relate some of the benefits of trees to science class because they provide for cellular respiration through photosynthesis and transpiration of water in the water cycle.

Proving the Water Cycle

Sixth graders used the outdoor classroom to help prove how the water cycle works.  A small stone was placed in the bottom of a baggie.  The baggie was tied around the leaves of a green plant with a twist tie.  One day later the students checked the baggies and found that droplets of water had transpired through the leaves of the plant and collected in the bottom of the baggie.

A second observation was made in the classroom.  Students filled a clear, plastic cup with 200ml of water and added 10ml of salt to the cup.  After the salt had dissolved, students tasted the salty water.
A clear plastic wrap was placed over the top of the cup and the cup was put under the grow light.  The light was moved to within 15cm of the cups.  After 24 hours, the students noticed that the water had formed condensation on the bottom of the plastic wrap.  They tasted these droplets of water and found that they no longer tasted like salt.

Students concluded that water is purified when it evaporates and when it transpires through the leaves of plants that are going through the process of photosynthesis.  Sixth graders are working on finding answers to the essential question - "How does a system of living and non-living things operate to meet the needs of the organisms in an ecosystem?"  Clean water is one of the abiotic factors that is increasingly important in the world.

Awesome Osmosis

Students collected qualitative data on celery during a recent experiment. Celery was placed in sugar water, salt water, and the control was placed in tap water.    After four hours, the celery was checked for differences in quality.  Students looked for changes in color, crispness,  flexibility and changes in the water color.

Students learned that osmosis is a type of diffusion that occurs when water moves through the cell membrane of a cell until equilibrium is reached.  The sugar molecules moved into the celery through osmosis using passive transport.  The celery structure changed very little during the four hours. 

The salt molecules were not able to move through the cell membrane.  The water moved out of the celery because the cells were trying to reach equilibrium.  This caused the celery to dehydrate and the cell membrane to break down.

The results of the experiment were communicated,orally, in short videos.  

How Does One Explain the Processes of Life at the Cellular Level?!?

In sixth grade life science, students are asked to answer the essential question - "How can one explain the ways cells contribute to the function of living organisms?"  Most of the first six weeks of science class were spent learning about cells and the processes of photosynthesis and cellular respiration that help formulate the answer to this question.

Students have been practicing ways to explain how cells contribute to the function of living organisms.   They are developing an understanding that cells provide a place for the transfer of solar energy into chemical energy in the plant process of photosynthesis, and the movement of oxygen and energy needed for cellular respiration.  Enjoy the following videos of sixth graders explaining how the processes work together!