Making Connections to the World Around Us

Franklin Elementary School
Teacher:  Carol Ann Benson
Scientist: Dr. Carlos Melian

Dr. Melian came to our class and talked about his research and use of models and showed us a presentation.  He took us on a field trip to Rocky Nook Park and we observed the number of various types of animal species in three different kinds of plants: live oak, sycamore tree, and Vinca major.
We recorded data on the association of species with the three kinds of plants.

Hypothesis:

Certain species are attracted to certain plants. There are plant communities.

Methods:

• First, we made a model (without data) by randomly drawing different sized balls (small, medium, large) from a bag  
• We connected them with a pipe cleaner link
• Then we charted our data on the board
• We analyzed the data and examined the model

We learned how to apply this type of data gathering to the world around us.