• Theorize, plan, and carry out experiments, and analyze and report conclusions of those experiments 
• Compare prior knowledge to the results of a scientific investigation 
• Organize evidence of a change over time 
• Develop models (illustrations and charts) to explain how objects, events, and processes work in the real world

• Select and use appropriate techniques to facilitate computation (including mental, estimation, paper-and-pencil, calculator, and computer methods) while solving problems and determining the reasonableness of results  
• Collect and record data from surveys or experiments 
• Organize (that is, sort, sequence, tally) information from surveys or experiments
• Construct, read, and interpret displays of data to make valid decisions, inferences, and predictions  
• Make and label a graph (horizontal bar, vertical bar, picture graph, or tally chart) from organized data  
• Read a thermometer in Celsius and Fahrenheit to the nearest degree  
• Measure a given characteristic of an object using standard units of measure

National Council of Teachers of Mathematics Curriculum Focal Points and Connections
As of 2006, the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) released math curriculum focal points to describe an approach to curriculum development. The approach focuses on areas of emphasis in each grade from prekindergarten through grade 8. (Curriculum Focal Points for Prekindergarten through Grade 8 Mathematics*)

This Unit Plan meets the following curriculum focal points and connections:
Focal Points

• Grade 4: Measurement: Developing an understanding of area and determining the areas of 2-dimenstional shapes
• Grade 5: Geometry, Measurement and Algebra: Describing 3-dimensional shapes and analyzing their properties, including volume and surface area

• Grade 3: Data Analysis: Construct and analyze frequency tables, bar graphs, picture graphs, and line plots and use them to solve problems
• Grade 4: Data Analysis: Continue solving problems using frequency tables, bar graphs, picture graphs, and line plots. Develop and use stem-and-leaf plots.
• Grade 5: Data Analysis: Analyze double-bar and line graphs and use ordered pairs on coordinate grids

• Students use technology tools to enhance learning, increase productivity, and promote creativity  
• Students use productivity tools to collaborate in constructing technology-enhanced models, preparing publications, and producing other creative works

• Students use telecommunications to collaborate, publish, and interact with peers, experts, and other audiences  
• Students use a variety of media and formats to communicate information and ideas effectively to multiple audiences

• Students use technology to locate, evaluate, and collect information from a variety of sources  
• Students use technology tools to process data and report results  
• Students evaluate and select new information resources and technological innovations based on the appropriateness to specific tasks

• Analyze variables of plant growth by completing plant lab activities 
• Work like scientists to plan, conduct, analyze, and report the results of a discrete experiment 
• Make sequential observational drawings of a plant to show how it changes as it grows 
• Make periodic measurements and record plant height, then make a chart showing growth over time

• Document the methods of their investigation in an organized way, with a complete hypothesis, experimental design, results, and conclusion 
• Write reflective responses to teacher queries throughout the course of the unit 
• Draw diagrams and illustrations that show processes and effects 
• Enter data in a spreadsheet, make charts that show growth over time, and interpret the meaning of the chart 
• Work cooperatively in small groups

• Lab reports that detail the planning and implementation of The Great Bean Race investigations  
• Group plan 
• Information learned about plants and how the information helped them to develop a group plan 
• ePALS information, a map of each location, and an explanation of how the plants might grow differently in each location
• Poem about bean plants 
• “Facts at a Glance” sections that synthesize information from a variety of electronic sources (such as online encyclopedias, scientific sites on the Internet, and so forth)  
• Citations 
• Graphs with a captions that explain what is shown symbolically