Fruit! Activity 1

Grade level: 2

I will start my lesson by asking students: "What happens to fruit over a long period of time if you don't eat it?"
      After students have come up with some answers and ideas, I will ask them what factors could be affecting what is happening to the fruit. The students will come up with a list of things that could be affecting the fruit and what is happening to it. In groups, I will then ask them to draw out what they are thinking as to why the fruit is changing, and what will happen to it over time. I will use their drawings as their hypothesis. Then the students will decide which of the hypothesis to test out.
      As a class we will set the conditions for the fruit based upon the hypothesis we chose. Over time the students will watch the fruit, and observe the changes that are occurring. During the observation the students will collect the data on the fruit using a graph of how humid it is, how much sunlight is on the fruit, what the temperature is, and any other conditions the students come up with. After the fruit has spoiled the students will create a conclusion to the experiment. They will state through illustrations what has happened to the fruit, why they think it happened, what factors caused the change, and what changed from their original thoughts about what would happen.