Growing Indian Corn ~ A Monthly STEM Challenge

Each month I organize a STEM Challenge pack for the classrooms in my school.  These challenges are more long-term in nature.  (The baggies on the window are our bean seeds sprouting.)  Our October Challenge, was based on the question:

How tall can your class grow corn plants on an ear of Indian corn in only a pan of water?

The kids were so excited to get started on this challenge in my classroom.  We placed the ears of corn into tubs of water and then we waited.  After a few days, we already had sprouts!  Amazing!  After two weeks, we placed soil into the containers in order to continue growing the corn.

Some are growing better than others, but they are all growing.  We used one ear of Indian corn per table group.  We observe them weekly and water them as needed.

For each monthly STEM challenge, we pair a book or two.  For this challenge we used these books.

                      

My students were fascinated with the information in both books.  We jigsawed the second book and students created informational posters of a two page spread of the book and then shared the information with the rest of the class.

You can buy the STEM challenge pack here!