Lesson Summary It is time for the students to reflect on the results of their team’s experiment.  In this lesson, they review their original question, reread their journal of daily observations, and isolate all of the quantitative data they have accumulated.  The students then compare and contrast their data with those of their teammates.  They make decisions on how the team’s combined data can be organized best:  in a graph, table, chart, drawing, or diagram.  In the next lesson, they will follow through and represent their data graphically in preparation for communicating it to others. Teacher Background Most students will find data analysis challenging.  They may need considerable guidance and reassurance.  Because of this, the organizing and analyzing activities of this unit are spread over two lessons, but you may find it necessary to assign some of these activities as homework too. During the experiment, most of the students’ data probably were recorded on tables.  The students also produced a graph showing the heights to which their plants grew.  These quantitative data are what the students will rely on to bring their experiments to a logical conclusion.  As they stand now, these data are “raw data.”  They need to be processed, combined, interpreted, and communicated. One effective way to conduct this lesson is for the students to think alone, then to compare data with a partner (the two students who grew control plants compare with each other and the same with the two students who grew experimental plants).  When the team gets together, they will be contrasting the findings of the two different pairs. Set-up/Management Tips Students needs to complete Activity Sheet 6 that was given to them at the beginning of the experiment. Students will also need graphs of their plants if they have not already done so.  Sometimes, it is good for each student to get an average of their four plants for each day that they measured them and then compare it with the other control/experimental plant and get an average of these two.  Making a graph with the control plant average and the experimental plant can be helpful in seeing similar and different growth patterns. Students often enjoy creating power points to share their group’s data with their peers.