Project
Overview
- Canolab is an experiment designed by the Canadian
Space Agency (CSA) to involve schools in the
experimental process. Each school receives canola
seeds which were flown in outer space aboard the
space shuttle Columbia in 1996. The purpose of
the experiment is to determine if plant growth
was affected by space travel.
- This project is designed so that students enrich
their knowledge and understanding of space
exploration, plant germination and growth, and
purpose of scientific investigation. Students
will compose and send e-mail to other
participating schools in Newfoundland, and across
Canada to provide weekly data reports on
observation of plant growth.
- Students will use search engines, such as
Yahooligans, to find information on the World
Wide Web associated with topics such as space
exploration, Canadian Space Program, Agriculture
and Agri-Food Canada Centers.
Students will:
- investigate Canada's role in the space program.
- research the economic benefits of the canola seed
in Canada.
- observe and record daily plant growth in
Individual Log.
- record information and data on charts and graphs.
Students will establish contact with:
- other students from various schools participating
in the canolab project via e-mail.
- various governmental agencies associated with the
project via the Internet.
Students will:
- establish a Web home page for Experiment Data
Reporting, to be updated weekly.
Curriculum
Connections
This project relates mainly to the Science program in
grade five. It will also enrich Reading, Writing, and
Observing components of the Language Arts program and
help reinforce the objectives of the Technology Education
program at the Elementary Grades, as well as Math.
This project will provide opportunities for thinking,
observing, investigation, inquiring, talking, reading and
writing as the students are involved in the experimental
process.
Science
- Students will gain a knowledge of the Canadian
Space Program.
- Students will record and interpret as they
participate in the scientific process.
- Students will learn about seed pollination and
plant growth.
- Students will understand the need for a control
group in some experimental designs.
Language Arts
- To help students acquire the language skills, of
reading, writing, reporting, and researching.
- To help students compose appropriate e-mail
messages, and learn about on-line communications.
- To help students realize that language especially
reading and writing, is a tool of learning, as
well as a medium of communications.
Technology Education
- To help students learn the basics of
communications, principals of encoding and
decoding, transmitting and receiving, storing and
retrieving, and the role that technology plays.
- To help students develop a vocabulary of the
terminology and language used in the
communication technology associated with
e-mailing and using the Internet.
- To help students send and receive e-mail
messages.
- To help students develop an appreciation of the
value of the Worlds Wide Web as a source of
information and use a browser to explore and
utilize the resource.
- To help students use an appropriate search
engines for this project.
- To help students use HTML editors to create a
"Canolab Connections" home page on the
World Wide Web.
Resource
Connections
Students will be actively involved in this project.
They will use the resources of the World Wide Web and
electronic mail to conduct their research. Each student
will be encouraged to contribute to the project. Students
will be expected to report their findings, not only in
class, but also via e-mail to other schools in
Newfoundland and across Canada. This will require the use
of a world processing program to provide data updates.
This project would require the collaborative effort of
other classes, and, indeed other schools to work through
the project. A students from different schools share
information about their experiment, they will also be
exchanging information about themselves, their community,
and country. The information that St. Mark's gather will
greatly expand their knowledge and broaden the horizons.
The finished product will be available for other schools
via the home page.
Students participating in this project will use PC
applications and accessories that are necessary for the
creation of a home page for this project, and the
Internet, specifically electronic mail and the World Wide
Web for research and communicating. As well, a flatbed
scanner and a digital camera may be needed to complete
this project.
Evaluation
Students will:
demonstrate a knowledge of using
a World Wide Web Browser, such as Netscape, to
explore the Internet.
demonstrate a knowledge of
sending and receiving e-mail using appropriate
software.
demonstrate a knowledge various
search engines to locate appropriate sites.
demonstrate a knowledge of how
the resources of the Internet are related to the
"real" world.
demonstrate a knowledge of using
a HTML editor to create a home page for the
project.
Feed back from students, as well as
parents, teachers, etc. will help to determine how the
students' current knowledge has been enriched in this
particular project.
The creation of this project will help
students achieve the objectives of the curriculum and
highlight the importance of the Internet as a learning
resource.
