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Grade 4 Interactive Computer Task Mystery Plants: 40 minutes

 

FOURTH-GRADERS CAN DO SIMPLE INVESTIGATIONS BUT STRUGGLE WITH EXPLANATIONS AND MORE COMPLEXITYTake the Mystery Plants Task. See your answers, get scoring materials, and more! This task takes 40 minutes.

The NAEP interactive computer tasks enabled fourth-graders to interact with science problem-solving situations that would have been difficult to re-create in a paper-and-pencil classroom environment. In this task, students were first asked to consider how sunlight affected both a sun-loving and a shade-loving plant. This part of the task was fairly simple and students at all levels were largely able to perform the procedures, while the more challenging investigation of the effects of fertilizer required students to be more strategic and was therefore more difficult for students.

  • See how selected student groups performed on the Plant A, Plant B, and the Fertilizer Experiments.
  • See scoring materials for this task.

    • Use the three tabs below to navigate through the parts of this task.

Part 1: Plant A
Part 2: Plant B
Part 3: Fertilizer

 

Part 2: Plant B Experiment

Step 1 – Students perform second sunlight investigation:

Students were presented with the same onscreen scenario as used for Plant A. This included an image of a greenhouse with three shelves labeled with varying amounts of sunlight, images of trays containing plants that students were directed to drag onto the shelves of the greenhouse, and directions to click on the “Do Experiment” and “View Data Table” buttons. 

As with the first investigation, most students were able to successfully perform the sunlight investigation with Plant B. Results showed that 82 percent of fourth-graders were able to use the simulated greenhouse appropriately to collect data on Plant B.

Of the 59 percent of fourth-graders who displayed “complex” prior knowledge, 50 percent were able to perform the experiment correctly. Of the 31 percent of students who displayed “simple” prior knowledge, 25 percent were able to perform the experiment correctly. Of the 10 percent of students whose prior knowledge was rated “incorrect,” 8 percent were able to perform the experiment correctly.

Try It Yourself: Users can perform the experiment by dragging the images of plants presented onscreen onto the greenhouse shelves and clicking the “do experiment” button.

Step 2 – Students draw conclusions:

As with plant A, students answered multiple-choice and constructed-response questions about their conclusions in regard to the experiment. Those questions were as follows:

  • Based on your experiments and the results in the data table, how much sunlight does Plant B need to grow best?  You may look at your data table again to help you with your answer.

    • Lots of sunlight
    • Some sunlight
    • A little sunlight

    Support your answer with specific observations and results from the data table. Type your answer in the box.

    One of your classmates looks at the results of your experiments with Plant B. She concludes: “Plants need sunlight so the more sunlight plants get, the better they grow.” Is your classmate’s conclusion correct?

    • Yes
    • No

    Support your answer with specific observations and results from the data table. Type your answer in the box.

    Results showed that 80% of students could identify the correct conclusion; approximately 29% could support their answer with appropriate details. Supporting details included saying that there were more flowers and leaves on Plant B when it was placed in the area of the greenhouse with the least amount of sunlight.

    The largest proportion of fourth-graders who were able to completely explain their conclusions (20 percent) also displayed “complex” prior knowledge and did the experiment correctly. Seven percent of fourth-graders who displayed “simple” prior knowledge and did the experiment correctly were able to give a complete explanation. One percent of fourth-graders whose prior knowledge was rated “incorrect” and did the experiment correctly were able to give a complete explanation.

    Try It Yourself: Users can perform the experiment, view the data table, and then draw conclusions using the animation presented onscreen.

    SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences, National Center for Education Statistics, National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP), 2009 Science Assessment.