First day of Perot Museum STEM Teacher Institute is in the books! We started the day by defining the characteristics of life by comparing pictures of random objects that were living, nonliving, and once alive. With these traits in mind, we took our learning outdoors. Using a hula hoop, we established a quadrat in an ecosystem surrounding the beautiful Allen STEAM Center. We counted and attempted to identify any biotic and abiotic factors within the hoop. I can see myself using this activity in my classroom, extending it by including food webs that can be found with the circle as well.
In the afternoon, we set up terrariums that will include a future project. Using inexpensive bubble gum jars, we layered rocks, charcoal, soil, moss, and found objects from the environment such as sticks, leaves, and even snail shells. I also added a few seeds of basil and thyme. We want to introduce some bugs to our little ecosystem, but first we have to catch them. To entice critters to where they are easily catchable, we hollowed out potato halves and cut "doors" so bugs could easily enter. I placed my potato under a green, leafy plant and in the morning we'll check to see what we caught. I have seen terrariums done in the classroom before, but taken to the next level with water and fish, as well as plants.
Before we left for the day, we completed one more design activity. Each table was given a plant commonly found in Texas, and asked to spend 2 minutes researching it. Our group specimen was Sonchus oleraceus, which is more commonly known as "sow thistle". We were then asked to design a model of how our plant dispersed its seeds. Sow thistle is an invasive weed that has spread to every corner of the globe, primarily through wind. The Institute had several tables full of supplies, but we had to think critically since some supplies were "worth" more and we had limited money chips to spend. Since our plant is similar to a dandelion, my team came up with cutting coffee filter paper into small whirligig designs that twirled as they fell to the floor. We made multiple whirligigs with tape on one end to give it a little weight, then placed them all into an origami box. During our presentation, all of our paper designed seeds caught the wind from the fan exactly like in nature. I would love to use this activity in class, especially since one of our standards emphasizes plant adaptations. One stumbling block to making this happen is finding all the plant specimens for students to research and base designs from.