Lesson 1: A Garden Design Challenge

How can we design trellises for our pea plants?

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A. Growing peas

We are going to grow peas!

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• What are your experiences with peas?
• How does your family use peas?
• What could we do with peas if we grew a lot of them?

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B. Observe pea plants growing

I notice … I wonder … It reminds me of …

C. Images of growing pea plants

D. Images of growing pea plants

Daniela Etchegaray

E. Images of growing pea plants

Daniela Etchegaray

F. Watch a pea plant grow

Watch a pea plant over time to learn about how pea plants grow.

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Share with your class what you notice, what you wonder, and what this reminds me of.

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G. Discuss observations and questions

• What did you notice?
• What did you wonder?
• What does this remind you of?

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H. Experiment before

A group of gardeners wanted to test whether giving peas a trellis made a difference in number of pea pods.

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10 pea plants growing with a trellis

10 pea plants growing with no trellis

Daniela Etchegaray

I. Experiment after

A group of gardeners wanted to test whether giving peas a support structure made a difference in number of pea pods.

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10 pea plants growing with a trellis

10 pea plants growing with no trellis

Daniela Etchegaray

J. Pea data

What do you notice about the number of pods on the plants with a trellis compared to the number of pods on the plants with no trellis?

K. Become an engineer

Problem: Our pea plants will struggle if they grow on the ground. They will look unhealthy and not make many peas. ��Class design goal: Design 2–3 trellises to keep pea plants off the ground as they grow.

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Perry Quan, CC BY-SA 2.0

Forest & Kim Starr CC BY 3.0

L. A Successful Trellis Will …

• What might make our trellises not work very well?
• How will we know if our trellises are successful?

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A Successful Trellis Will …

M. Constraints

Constraints are limits on the design.

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We can use the following materials:

• 6-ft bamboo sticks
• 4-ft bamboo sticks
• Twine
• Coated green wire
• Anything you bring from home

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N. Develop an initial design

• Sketch your design. Use words and symbols to describe how it works.
• How does your design help the pea plants grow up?
• How does your design stay standing?

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O. How to make an engineering sketch

Unlike a scientific sketch which has specific details, an engineering sketch should record your ideas about …

1. What materials to use
2. Where to put them relative to each other
3. What their main purpose will be

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P. Home Learning

Look at school, home, or online for …

1. Plants that grow up trellises or other structures
2. The structures they grow on

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Draw a sketch of the plant or take a picture. Record your observations and questions.

End Day 1

Q. Agreements for group work

When did you participate in group or team work that felt productive, positive, and safe?

What made it work?

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R. Share your design

Share your design with a partner:

• How will your design be successful?

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Compare your designs:

• How are your designs similar?
• How are your designs different?

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S. Ask questions

With your partner, record 1 question per sticky note.

• What questions do we need to answer to design successful trellises for our peas to grow up?

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T. Share and categorize questions

With your group

• Sort your questions into categories of questions that are similar.

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Be prepare to share your categories of questions with the class.

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U. Make a Driving Question Board

• One group can share a category of questions.
• If your group has a similar set of questions, then you can share your category and cluster it together.
• Repeat with a new category of questions.

V. Ideas for investigation

How could we investigate our questions?

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