Students' initial questions about seeds reveal what they already know and what they are wondering about. These early questions serve as a jumping off point for the unit. Throughout the period of seed observation, more questions are generated. These questions help the teacher track progress in student thinking and assess understanding of concepts related to seeds.

This unit provides students with a chance to determine what makes a "good" question for inquiry. They discuss which questions are worth investigating and which are actually possible to investigate in a classroom.

Students go through the process of setting up a fair test. They learn to identify and limit variables to investigate. Students come to realize why a control or comparison is necessary.

The types and quality of student questions change remarkably over time. Scientific vocabulary becomes more prominent and students base their questions on actual observations.

Students are enthusiastic about the opportunity to design and carry out investigations to test their seed question, but their initial ideas about how to set up a test tend not to be very organized or well thought out. They see no need for a control. For example, to determine whether seeds will grow in the dark, students proposed growing them in a closet with no comparison or comparing them with a different kind of seed grown near a window. Prompting, questioning, and challenging by the teacher allowed students to evaluate and redesign their plans for experiments.