Resource Library

Growing Tomato Plants

K to 3, Grades 4 to 6, Grades 7 to 9, Grades 10 to 12

If you and your students wish to extend the Tomatosphere™ program to include additional plant-based inquiries or if you plan to grow the tomato plants until they produce fruit, follow these transplanting and growing recommendations.

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Skill Look-fors

Using Appropriate Vocabulary

K to 3, Grades 4 to 6, Grades 7 to 9, Grades 10 to 12

The skill of using appropriate vocabulary involves exploring new vocabulary in context and developing the ability to use vocabulary to communicate thinking and learning.

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Skill Look-fors

Recording

K to 3, Grades 4 to 6, Grades 7 to 9, Grades 10 to 12

The skill of recording involves the documenting and preserving of data and observations in a variety of forms for the purpose of capturing information for later analysis.

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Skill Look-fors

Predicting

K to 3, Grades 4 to 6, Grades 7 to 9, Grades 10 to 12

The skill of predicting involves forecasting what is believed will occur in the future. Predictions should be based on student’s prior knowledge, experiences, observations and research.

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Skill Look-fors

Planning

K to 3, Grades 4 to 6, Grades 7 to 9, Grades 10 to 12

The skill of planning involves identifying methods, materials and a sequence of events to reach goals, complete projects or accomplish tasks.

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Skill Look-fors

Observing

K to 3, Grades 4 to 6, Grades 7 to 9, Grades 10 to 12

The skill of observing involves using the senses, as appropriate, to find out about the characteristics, properties and attributes of objects, places and events.

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Skill Look-fors

Displaying Data

K to 3, Grades 4 to 6, Grades 7 to 9, Grades 10 to 12

The skill of displaying data involves organizing and presenting data collected during an inquiry in various visual forms for the purpose of summarizing results and deriving conclusions.

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Skill Look-fors

Concluding

K to 3, Grades 4 to 6, Grades 7 to 9, Grades 10 to 12

The skill of making conclusions involves connecting the data gathered in an inquiry back to the question and hypothesis that formed the basis of the inquiry.

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Backgrounders

The Life Cycle of a Tomato Plant

K to 3, Grades 4 to 6, Grades 7 to 9, Grades 10 to 12

Tomato plants belong to the plant group known as flowering plants or angiosperms. Flowers are important for reproduction and the production of seeds.

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Backgrounders

Life Support in Space - Closed Systems

K to 3, Grades 4 to 6, Grades 7 to 9, Grades 10 to 12

Because the ISS is dependent on Earth for its full life support needs, it is an open system. Scientists are working on creating a closed system using machinery and programs to recycle and reuse matter to maintain a supply of air, water, and food independent from Earth.

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Backgrounders

Space Food

K to 3, Grades 4 to 6, Grades 7 to 9, Grades 10 to 12

Eating is one of life’s great pleasures, even when orbiting 400 kilometres above the surface of the Earth. Learn how NASA is feeding today’s astronauts on the International Space Station (ISS) and see how they plan to feed tomorrow’s astronauts on a mission to Mars.

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Videos

Writing a Hypothesis

K to 3, Grades 4 to 6, Grades 7 to 9, Grades 10 to 12, Inquiry

This YouTube video, by a teacher, explains the purpose of a hypothesis and how to construct one.

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Videos

Theory vs. Hypothesis vs. Law… Explained!

K to 3, Grades 4 to 6, Grades 7 to 9, Grades 10 to 12, Inquiry

This YouTube video, from It’s Okay to Be Smart (PBS), explains the difference between the terms fact, theory, hypothesis and law in science.

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Videos

Creating testable questions

K to 3, Grades 4 to 6, Grades 7 to 9, Grades 10 to 12, Inquiry

This YouTube video, from teacher Courtney Mann, has information about creating well-defined, testable questions.

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Videos

Paxi - Do Martians exist? (ESA)

K to 3, Grades 4 to 6

Join Paxi on his journey to the Red Planet to investigate if Martians exist, and learn about the European Space Agency's ExoMars missions. (4:53 min.)

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