Change Over Time

Students describe a developing organism (e.g., a bean plant in a cup, a specific wildflower marked with a string or other indicator); a changing object (e.g., a decomposing orange); or a landscape feature (e.g., a sandy stream bank) as it changes over multiple observation sessions.

Most times when we go outside to look at nature or record observations in our journals, we just see snapshots of longer processes. Yet the fruit on the trees, the spit of sand by the river, and the leaves just fallen are all in states of change. This activity gives students the experience of observing and recording changes in a phenomenon over time, leading to deeper understanding of the subject, the forces that cause it to change, and change as a general process.