The Bean Blog

In Science we have been asked to plan and carry out an investigation involving beans. My group has decided to investigate the different effects salt water, sugar water and normal water have on the growth of beans.

The task requires us to 'write up [our] bean growth investigation in a manner appropriate to Key Stage 1 or 2'. We have therefore decided to use a blog to record our investigation and our findings. I think that blogging is a great way of recording this kind of experiment for the following reasons.

• The writing involved with science experiments is often the part dreaded by children. By making it interactive it automatically becomes more fun and accessible.

• A blog can be added to at different stages of the experiment and will follow the chronological order of the experiment.

• Photo facilities allow multiple photos to be uploaded (and possibly shown in a slide show) and used as evidence of results.

• Children can view others' blogs and see how other people's experiments are going. They could be encouraged to comment on other experiments perhaps making predications about what will happen. On our blog, we have a vote feature where people can guess which bean they think will grow the fastest.

• If working in groups, the work will always be accessible for each child (not in one of their books) and it can also be accessed by a teacher easily for it to be marked/assessed.

• The blog creates cross-curricular links as it of course incorporates ICT skills into Science!

Check out The Bean Diary!