OVERVIEW

Activity Overview:

Students will plan an investigation into what plants need in order to grow. Students will measure the height of their plants every day for 2 weeks after planting seeds, while changing a plant growth variable (such as the amount of sunlight or water). Students will code for and measure the amount of water in the soil by measuring the conductivity of the soil using micro:bit and watering their plants accordingly for the duration of two weeks.

Meta description

• Subject Area: Computer Science, Science
• Grade Level : 6-8
• Computer Science Domains:
  • Data Analysis, Algorithms and Programming
• Computer Science Principles:
  • Recognizing and Defining Computational Problems
• Materials:
  • Micro:bit
• Considerations:
  • Educator should be knowledgeable about plants and photosynthesis, as well as micro:bit and basic coding and troubleshooting.

Lesson Plan

Overview

Students will plan an investigation into what plants need in order to grow. Students will measure the height of their plants every day for 2 weeks after planting seeds, while changing a plant growth variable (such as the amount of sunlight or water). Students will code for and measure the amount of water in the soil by measuring the conductivity of the soil using micro:bit and watering their plants accordingly for the duration of two weeks.

ASSESSMENT PRE/POST-TEST

What do plants need to grow? What is the best soil moisture level for your plant to grow? How much water is the minimum amount of water your plant needs to grow? Were you able to code the micro bit to measure the soil moisture levels for your plants?

OBJECTIVES

Code micro:bit to measure soil moisture levels for plants. Determine the variables needed for plants to grow. Measure the soil moisture levels of plants and keep soil moisture levels within study parameters for 2 weeks.
Stretch Goal: Code the micro:bit to alert you when the soil moisture is outside of your given parameters (either too high or too low).

CATCH/HOOK

We are in a drought! Water resources in the west are getting more and more scarce. So if you were to plant a garden, what is the minimum amount of water you need in order to grow the tallest plant?

ACTIVITY INSTRUCTIONS

Students will be researching what plants need to grow, and then coding a micro:bit to measure the amount of moisture in the soil by testing the conductivity of the soil. More water means the soil is more conductive - which will give a higher reading on the micro:bit. Students will then determine conductivity levels for different levels of soil moisture, and then determine how much water the plants need in order to achieve optimum growth during a drought.

Supplements

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REVIEW

Students will write a lab report including all of the data they collected during the two weeks they were collecting data on their plants.

STANDARDS