This week Team Dirt discovered quite a few curriculum connections that we can make with our experience at the science museum this summer.  Our team is represented by  all three middle school grades 6th, 7th and 8th grades along with the two disciplines of science and math.  We identified several curriculum objectives that can be met as we conduct Dr. Julia Steven’s Dandelion Project in our classrooms. Some of the related 6th & 8th grade topics from the  NC Science Essential Standards include:   soil makeup, symbiosis, ecosystems, helpful and harmful bacteria and biomes.  We also discussed many math connections including ratios, percents, graphing, scatter plots, and quadratics which tie into the 7th Grade and Math 1 standards.  To help with writing our unit plan, we created a google doc that lists all the standards that can be addressed through this project in all three areas (6th science, 8th science and 7th math).

I envision setting up the dandelion project right at the beginning of the year along with introducing the big idea of Citizen Science.  At this time I will invite our mentor, Dr. Julia Stevens, to come to the classroom and let the students meet the “real scientist” in person.  I think this will be a great way to kick off the year and excite the students with the understanding that they will actually be helping Dr. Stevens with her research.  We will be able to continue this connection with the SMARTS distance learning tool to video conference with the scientists at the museum.

We plan to have our students conduct the dandelion experiments in the classroom.  They will bring in soil from their own neighborhoods and we will explore the bacteria and fungi that are present and address the main question – Can dandelions recruit their own microbiome in these new soils? From this initial activity I’m sure many more student inquires will follow.

Once the soil is brought in, students will find dandelions on the school grounds and after sterilizing the roots, will plant the dandelions in the soils they brought from home.  The students will care for the dandelion plants and when time we will send the root and surrounding soil to the museum for analysis.  We obviously don’t have the equipment to extract DNA or run PCR so this is a great advantage to be connected to the museum.  Once the samples have been analyzed Dr. Stevens will send the results back to us so we can use for further inquiry in the classroom.

I’m excited about the idea of my students doing “real science” in the classroom and having this connection with the museum and scientist working there. During our reflection lunch on Friday I was thrilled to hear, Dr. Rob Dunn, say “The hours in the lab diminish, but the scope shouldn’t.”  He made it very clear that we were welcome to come back to the museum and use the lab facilities as the need arises.  I feel like I am truly a Teacher-Scientist in a partnership with the museum to create more Citizen Scientists in my classroom, school, state and as Rob says “throughout the world.”  I can’t wait to kick off this new school year!