Read this to the class:
In 1960, a man in England planted a few seeds in a big glass bottle, added some compost and water, and closed it up. He opened it once, in 1972, to add a little water, then sealed it for good. More than fifty years later, the garden inside was still green. Nobody fed it. Nobody watered it. Your team's job: build your own sealed world and find out how a jar can keep itself alive.
Teams of three, with three jobs that rotate at each check-in: Builder (handles the jar), Observer (looks closely and reports), Recorder (fills in the log).
In the full lesson PDF
- Bet (5–10 min)
- Hunt (20 min to build, then check-ins)
- Reveal (10–15 min, after 4 weeks)
- Act (10 min)
- Background for the teacher
- Assessment
- Student sheet
US Letter, prints cleanly in black and white. The student sheet is on its own page, ready to photocopy.