Planting with Precision

Build Materials (For each team)

Required Materials (Trading/Table of Possibilities)

• Paper and plastic cups
• Paper and plastic bowls
• Empty cans or bottles
• Straws
• Paper towels
• Rubber bands
• Paper clips,
• Soda bottles
• Glue
• String
• Aluminum foil
• Plastic wrap
• Bendable metal piping
• Hose or tubes

Testing Materials

• Pumpkin or sunflower seeds (food quality, edible)
• Cotton batting or towel (serves as soil)

Materials

• Pumpkin or sunflower seeds (food quality, edible)
• Cotton batting or towel (serves as soil)

Process

Lay a towel or cotton batting on a table surface. Place a ruler, measuring tape, or printed paper ruler along the edge of the material. Teams test their planting systems by demonstrating how it dispenses the seed every 15cm over a 60cm distance.

Design Challenge

You are part of a team of engineers given the challenge of developing a system that can drop a pumpkin or sunflower seed every 15cm over a 60cm distance.

Criteria

• Must drop 1 seed every 15cm over a 60cm distance.

Constraints

• Hands can not touch the seed as it drops.
• Use only the materials provided.
• Teams may trade unlimited materials.

1. Break class into teams of 3-4.
2. Hand out the Planting with Precision worksheet, as well as some sheets of paper for sketching designs.
3. Discuss the topics in the Background Concepts Section. To introduce the lesson, consider asking the students how seeds are planted in cornfields. Ask them to think about the equipment and systems required to efficiently handle planting of seeds.
4. Review the Engineering Design Process, Design Challenge, Criteria, Constraints and Materials.
5. Provide each team with their materials.
6. Explain that students must design and build a system that can drop a pumpkin or sunflower seed every 15cm over a 60cm distance.
7. Announce the amount of time they have to design and build (1 hour recommended).
8. Use a timer or an on-line stopwatch (count down feature) to ensure you keep on time. (www.online-stopwatch.com/full-screen-stopwatch). Give students regular “time checks” so they stay on task. If they are struggling, ask questions that will lead them to a solution quicker.
9. Students meet and develop a plan for their planting system. They agree on materials they will need, write/draw their plan, and present their plan to the class. Teams may trade unlimited materials with other teams to develop their ideal parts list.
10. Teams build their designs.
11. Lay a towel or cotton batting on a table surface. Place a ruler, measuring tape, or printed paper ruler along the edge of the material. Teams test their planting systems by demonstrating how it dispenses the seed every 15cm over a 60cm distance.
12. As a class, discuss the student reflection questions.
13. For more content on the topic, see the “Digging Deeper” section.

Alternative Method

Students could plant actual seeds (garden cress for example) either in an outdoor school garden or on cotton batting (garden cress grows well just about anywhere) so students can observe the growth of the seeds. This could penin discussions related to land use, efficiency of seed placement, over planting, or other topics related to land use.

Extension Idea

Require students to incorporate a sensor or computer into their design.

Student Reflection (engineering notebook)

1. How similar was your original design to the actual seeder your team built?
2. If you found you needed to make changes during the construction phase, describe why your team decided to make revisions.
3. Which seeder system that another team made proved to be the most precise? What about their design made it more precise?
4. Do you think that this activity was more rewarding to do as a team, or would you have preferred to work alone on it? Why?
5. If you could have used one additional material (tape, glue, a computer, sensors — as examples) which would you choose and why?
6. How would you have to adjust your seeder if you were instead planting corn? How about orchids?
7. How did advances in equipment impact the “Green Revolution?”

The lesson can be done in as little as 1 class period for older students. However, to help students from feeling rushed and to ensure student success (especially for younger students), split the lesson into two periods giving students more time to brainstorm, test ideas and finalize their design. Conduct the testing and debrief in the next class period.

Seed Drills and Planters   

Seed Drill

A seed drill is a sowing device that precisely positions seeds in the soil and then covers them. Before the introduction of the seed drill, the common practice was to plant seeds by hand. This proved to be very wasteful, as planting was imprecise poorly distributed — so there was much waste of seeds and usable soil.

In older methods of planting, a field was prepared with a plough which dug rows, or furrows. The field was then seeded by throwing the seeds over the field, sometimes called “manual broadcasting.” Some seeds landed in the furrow and were protected, which others might be left exposed…not very efficient! The use of a seed drill can boost the ratio of crop yield by up to nine times, by placing seeds just where they are needed.

Planter

Like a seed drill, a planter is towed behind a tractor. Planters lay the seed down in precise manner along rows. The seeds are distributed through devices called row units that are spaced along the back of the planter (the one to the right has the ability to 4 rows at a time. At the moment, the biggest in the world has a 48-row capacity: the John Deere DB120.

Older planters might have a seed bin for each row and a fertilizer bin for two or more rows. In each seed bin plates with “teeth” are installed to correspond to the size of the type of seed to be sown and how quickly seed should be able to come out. The amount of space between each “tooth” would be just big enough to allow one seed in at a time to get through, but not big enough for two.

Planting History and Precision 

History

The Sumerians used primitive single-tube seed drills around 1500 BC, and tube-based seed drills were invented by the Chinese in the 2nd century BC. Some believe that the seed drill was introduced in Europe after contacts with China. The illustration to the right shows a Chinese double-tube seed drill, published by Song Yingxing in the Tiangong Kaiwu encyclopedia of 1637.

The earliest European seed drill was attributed to Camillo Torello and patented by the Venetian Senate in 1566. And, a seed drill was described in detail by Tadeo Cavalina of Bologna in 1602.

In England, the seed drill was further refined by Jethro Tull, who was said to have perfected a horsedrawn seed drill in 1701 that economically sowed the seeds in neat rows. However, seed drills would not come into widespread use in Europe until the mid-19th century.

Advanced Technology

Over the years seed drills have become more advanced and sophisticated. For example, many companies and universities that focus on research on agriculture are now recommending the use of electronic measuring systems to accurately measure seed spacing.

Some use a system called “PhotoGate” that uses a light emitter with a sensor where seeds fall from a seeder. When a seed passes the opening, it blocks the light from one or more of the sensors and sends a signal to a computer indicating that a seed has dropped. Software then tracks the placement and timing of seed placement and can very accurately report the space between individual seeds.

• Constraints: Limitations with material, time, size of team, etc.
• Criteria: Conditions that the design must satisfy like its overall size, etc.
• Engineers: Inventors and problem-solvers of the world. Twenty-five major specialties are recognized in engineering (see infographic).
• Engineering Design Process: Process engineers use to solve problems. 
• Engineering Habits of Mind (EHM): Six unique ways that engineers think.
• Iteration: Test & redesign is one iteration. Repeat (multiple iterations).
• Planter: Towed behind a tractor, planters lay the seed down in a precise manner along rows. The seeds are distributed through devices called row units that are spaced along the back of the planter.
• Precision: The quality, condition, or fact of being exact and accurate.
• Prototype: A working model of the solution to be tested.
• Seed Drill: A sowing device that precisely positions seeds in the soil and then covers them.

Internet Connections

• The Seed Site

Recommended Reading

• Farm Equipment of the Roman World (ISBN: 978-0521134231)
• Turn-of-the-Century Farm Tools and Implements (Dover Pictorial Archives) (ISBN: 978-0486421148)

Writing Activity

Write an essay or a paragraph how seed farming has changed over the past century: identify three major advances that have improved the economics of farming.

Alignment to Curriculum Frameworks

Note: Lesson plans in this series are aligned to one or more of the following sets of standards:  

• U.S. Science Education Standards (http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=4962)
• U.S. Next Generation Science Standards (http://www.nextgenscience.org/) 
• International Technology Education Association’s Standards for Technological Literacy (http://www.iteea.org/TAA/PDFs/xstnd.pdf)
• U.S. National Council of Teachers of Mathematics’ Principles and Standards for School Mathematics (http://www.nctm.org/standards/content.aspx?id=16909)
• U.S. Common Core State Standards for Mathematics (http://www.corestandards.org/Math)
• Computer Science Teachers Association K-12 Computer Science Standards (http://csta.acm.org/Curriculum/sub/K12Standards.html)

National Science Education Standards Grades K-4 (ages 4-9)

CONTENT STANDARD A: Science as Inquiry

As a result of activities, all students should develop

• Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry 
• Understanding about scientific inquiry 

CONTENT STANDARD B: Physical Science

As a result of the activities, all students should develop an understanding of

• Properties of objects and materials 
• Position and motion of objects 

CONTENT STANDARD E: Science and Technology 

As a result of activities, all students should develop

• Abilities of technological design 
• Understanding about science and technology 

CONTENT STANDARD F: Science in Personal and Social Perspectives

As a result of activities, all students should develop understanding of

• Types of resources 
• Science and technology in local challenges 

CONTENT STANDARD G: History and Nature of Science

As a result of activities, all students should develop understanding of

• Science as a human endeavor 

National Science Education Standards Grades 5-8 (ages 10-14)

CONTENT STANDARD A: Science as Inquiry

As a result of activities, all students should develop

• Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry 

CONTENT STANDARD B: Physical Science

As a result of their activities, all students should develop an understanding of

• Motions and forces 

CONTENT STANDARD E: Science and Technology

As a result of activities in grades 5-8, all students should develop

• Abilities of technological design 

CONTENT STANDARD F: Science in Personal and Social Perspectives

As a result of activities, all students should develop understanding of

• Populations, resources, and environments 
• Risks and benefits 
• Science and technology in society 

National Science Education Standards Grades 5-8 (ages 10-14)

CONTENT STANDARD G: History and Nature of Science

As a result of activities, all students should develop understanding of

• Science as a human endeavor 
• History of science 

National Science Education Standards Grades 9-12 (ages 14-18)

CONTENT STANDARD A: Science as Inquiry

As a result of activities, all students should develop

• Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry 

CONTENT STANDARD B: Physical Science 

As a result of their activities, all students should develop understanding of

• Motions and forces 
• Interactions of energy and matter 

CONTENT STANDARD E: Science and Technology

As a result of activities, all students should develop

• Abilities of technological design 
• Understandings about science and technology 

CONTENT STANDARD F: Science in Personal and Social Perspectives

As a result of activities, all students should develop understanding of

• Environmental quality 
• Natural and human-induced hazards 
• Science and technology in local, national, and global challenges 

CONTENT STANDARD G: History and Nature of Science

As a result of activities, all students should develop understanding of

• Historical perspectives 

Next Generation Science Standards Grades 3-5 (Ages 8-11)

Engineering Design 

Students who demonstrate understanding can:

• 3-5-ETS1-1.Define a simple design problem reflecting a need or a want that includes specified criteria for success and constraints on materials/time/cost.
• 3-5-ETS1-2.Generate and compare multiple /solutions to a problem based on how well each is likely to meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.
• 3-5-ETS1-3.Plan and carry out fair tests in which variables are controlled and failure points are considered to identify aspects of a model or prototype that can be improved.

Next Generation Science Standards Grades 6-8 (Ages 11-14)

Engineering Design 

Students who demonstrate understanding can:

• MS-ETS1-1 Define the criteria and constraints of a design problem with sufficient precision to ensure a successful solution, taking into account relevant scientific principles and potential impacts on people and the natural environment that may limit possible solutions.
• MS-ETS1-2 Evaluate competing design solutions using a systematic process to determine how well they meet the criteria and constraints of the problem.

Standards for Technological Literacy – All Ages

The Nature of Technology

• Standard 3: Students will develop an understanding of the relationships among technologies and the connections between technology and other fields of study.

Technology and Society

• Standard 4: Students will develop an understanding of the cultural, social, economic, and political effects of technology.
• Standard 5: Students will develop an understanding of the effects of technology on the environment.
• Standard 6: Students will develop an understanding of the role of society in the development and use of technology.
• Standard 7: Students will develop an understanding of the influence of technology on history.

Design

• Standard 8: Students will develop an understanding of the attributes of design.
• Standard 9: Students will develop an understanding of engineering design.
• Standard 10: Students will develop an understanding of the role of troubleshooting, research and development, invention and innovation, and experimentation in problem solving.

Abilities for a Technological World

• Standard 11: Students will develop abilities to apply the design process.
• Standard 13: Students will develop abilities to assess the impact of products and systems.

The Designed World

• Standard 15: Students will develop an understanding of and be able to select and use agricultural and related biotechnologies.

Engineering Teamwork and Planning

You are part of a team of engineers given the challenge of developing a system out of everyday materials that can drop a pumpkin or sunflower seed every 15 cm over a 60 cm distance.

You have a wide range of materials to use and you can power your device in any way you wish as long as your hands do not touch the seed as it drops.

Research Phase

Read the materials provided to you by your teacher. If you have access to the internet, consider different types of seeding machines and determine a design you think will work best in your classroom setting.

Planning and Design Phase

Draw a diagram of the seeder design on the back of this paper, and in the box below make a list of all the parts you think your team will need to build it.

Presentation Phase
Present your plan and drawing to the class, and consider the plans of other teams.  You may wish to fine tune your own design.

Build it!  Test it!
Next build your seeder and test it.  You may share unused building materials with other teams, and trade materials too.  Be sure to watch what other teams are doing and consider the aspects of different designs that might be an improvement on your team’s plan.

Reflection

Complete the reflection questions below:

1. How similar was your original design to the actual seeder your team built?

2. If you found you needed to make changes during the construction phase, describe why your team decided to make revisions.

3. Which seeder system that another team made proved to be the most precise? What about their design made it more precise?

4. Do you think that this activity was more rewarding to do as a team, or would you have preferred to work alone on it? Why?

5. If you could have used one additional material (tape, glue, a computer, sensors — as examples) which would you choose and why?

6. How would you have to adjust your seeder if you were instead planting corn? How about orchids?

7. How did advances in equipment impact the “Green Revolution?”

Lesson Plan Translation

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