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Grade 4 · STEM Skills and Connections · STEM Inputs and Outputs

Design a Smart Greenhouse

Many technologies receive an input, apply a rule, and produce an output. Designers choose outputs that help a system respond to a real need.

Visual model

See how the ideas connect

Look · connect · explain
Start at the centre. Follow each line and explain how that idea belongs to STEM Inputs and Outputs.

For students

Notice, predict, explain

Choose one part of the model. Predict how it connects to another part, then use the lesson evidence to explain your thinking.

For teachers

Pause for science talk

Show the model before the explanation. Ask “What do you notice?” and “What might change?” Then revisit student ideas after the worked example.

The big idea

The same input can support several useful outputs

A sensor can provide data to a program. Depending on its purpose, the program might display information, sound an alert, or control another device.

Work it through

Respond to dry soil

  1. Step 1 A moisture sensor supplies a number that represents how wet or dry the soil is.
  2. Step 2 The program compares that input with a chosen threshold.
  3. Step 3 When the soil is too dry, one output shows a warning while another turns on a pump for a limited time.
  4. Step 4 Testing checks whether the threshold and outputs protect the plant without wasting water.