Ashley Stanczyk
C&I 351
September 22, 2003
Assessing Students’ Ideas About Plants
I conducted interviews with two kindergarten students last week in my placement
school. The interviews were done to assess the students’ understanding about plants and
their growth. I interviewed a male and a female student. I chose these students because
they are at different ability levels. The male is higher functioning than the female
student. I asked my teacher which students I should interview and she recommended
Sam* and Sally* because they have different ability levels. I interviewed each of the
students separately and asked them questions about identifying plants and what a plant
needs to grow. The results were very interesting because their answers were very
different.
The male student, Sam, who is at a higher ability level than Sally was able to
correctly identify more plants that Sally. Sam thought the grass, flowering plant, oak
tree, bush, pine tree and fern were all plants. He thought the seeds, mushroom, Venus’s
flytrap, walking stick, telephone pole and bread mold were not plants. Sally thought the
flowering plant, seeds, and fern were plants and replied no to all others being a plant.
When I asked them what all plants have in common Sam replied, “They have leaves and
they grow in the ground.” Sally thought, “All plants have seeds on them and they are the
same because they all look alike.” I found it interesting that Sally thought a seed was a
plant and Sam did not. Sam seemed to have a better understanding of what a plant is. I
thought it was interesting that their answers varied so much even though they are both in
kindergarten.
Although they had such different concepts of what a plant is, they both had
similar responses to what plants need for growth. Sam thought a plant needs sun, water,
plant food, air, oxygen, and potting soil. Sally thought they need sun, water, plant food, a
worm, air and potting soil. Their responses for how each of these help the plant grow
were very similar. Sam responded, “Plants need water because it helps them get strong.”
Sally said, “Plants need sun because they need light to grow and they need plant food
because it is stuff to eat.” I thought it was interesting she said the plant needed a worm to
grow because “plants eat worms.” I think the children were confused with what carbon
dioxide and oxygen were so I tried to clarify this for them the best I could.
In comparing the responses from both of these interviews, I believe
kindergarteners have only a very basic understanding of what a plant is and how it grows.
I believe what they know is based on knowledge from previous experiences. They have
not studied plants in school yet, so anything they know is from other experiences. It was
interesting to discover the differences in what the students thought a plant is and what it
needs for growth. I concluded that Sam has more knowledge of what a plant is and that
Sally has only small amount of knowledge of plants’ characteristics. It will be interesting
to see their knowledge expand as they learn more about plants and their characteristics as
they year progresses.
* Names of students are pseudonyms for confidentiality reasons.
Attached are the results from the interview
Is this a plant? Sally’s response
Yes
1. Grass
2. Flowering Plant
3. Oak Tree
4. Bush
5. Seeds
6. Mushrooms
7. Venus’s Flytrap
8. Walking Stick
9. Pine Tree
10. Fern
11. Telephone Pole
12. Bread Mold
No
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Sam’s response
1. Grass
2. Flowering Plant
3. Oak Tree
4. Bush
5. Seeds
6. Mushrooms
7. Venus’s Flytrap
8. Walking Stick
9. Pine Tree
10. Fern
11. Telephone Pole
12. Bread Mold
Yes
X
X
X
X
No
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
What Plants Need for Growth
Sally’s Response
1. Sun
2. Light Bulb
Yes
X
No
X
3. Water
4. Box of Cereal
5. Bee
6. Plant Food
7. Worm
8. Air
9. Oxygen
10. Carbon Dioxide
11. Sandwich
12. Potting Soil
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
Sam’s Response
1. Sun
2. Light Bulb
3. Water
4. Box of Cereal
5. Bee
6. Plant Food
7. Worm
8. Air
9. Oxygen
10. Carbon Dioxide
11. Sandwich
12. Potting Soil
Yes
X
No
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X
X