“WE ARE WASHINGTON: PEOPLE OF THE FAIR”LESSON THREE
Pumpkin Investigation
Objective
Observe, hypothesize, experiment, analyze and share results of a pumpkin investigation.
Materials
Several, or a class set, of pumpkins for students to observe and use to conduct investigations.
Lesson
Discuss the following questions with a partner or group. Share your hypotheses before conducting an investigation. Document
and share your results after investigating.
1.
There are creases that run side by side (stem to bottom) on the outside of a pumpkin. Are there more creases
on bigger pumpkins than on smaller ones?
2. Is there something on the inside of the pumpkin that lines up with the creases on the outside?
3. Where on a pumpkin are the creases the deepest? The shallowest?
4. Where on a pumpkin are the creases closest together? The furthest apart?
5. Do pumpkins with more creases have more seeds?
6. Are the creases closer together on bigger pumpkins than on smaller ones?
7. By looking at a pumpkin, can you tell which side was on the ground?
8. From looking only at the stem, can you determine which side of the pumpkin was on the ground?
9. Are pumpkins mostly full or mostly empty?
10. How is the size of pumpkin related to the amount of empty space?
11. Are the seeds scattered around inside a pumpkin or are they arranged in certain groups and patterns?
12. If the seed are in groups and patterns, are the groups and patterns the same for different pumpkins?
13. If we call the stem end of the pumpkin “up,” do the pointed ends of the seeds point up, down, sideways
or in different directions?
14. What is the relationship between pumpkin size and seed size? Do bigger pumpkins have bigger seeds?
15. Think of a way of finding the number of seeds in a pumpkin without actually counting each seed.
16. Do bigger pumpkins have more seeds than smaller pumpkins?
17. In one pumpkin, are the seeds all the same size? If not, where are the seeds the largest? The smallest?
18. Hit pumpkins of different sizes to see where you get the lowest and highest sounds.
23. Where are pumpkin shells the thinnest? The thickest? Be careful to measure shell thickness the same way.
24. Determine if there is a relationship between shell thickness and pumpkin size.
25. A pumpkin was once the bottom part of a beautiful yellow flower. Find the place on the pumpkin where
the blossom part of the flower grew.
26. Try to figure out what the stringy stuff on the inside of the pumpkin does. Is it attached to the shell? The seeds?
27. If the stringy stuff is attached to the seeds, is it attached to the pointed or rounded end of the seed?
Does the string from the seed attach directly to the shell wall or to something else?
Source
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