- Materials
- A box of assorted buttons
- A bag of peanuts (in the shell)
- An assortment of leaves
- Procedure
- Begin with the assorted buttons. Group the buttons
according to any characteristics you choose. (For example,
size, color, number of holes, texture, etc.)
- Next, group the peanuts according to external structure
and characteristics. Then, break open the shells and
consider the internal characteristics.
- Finally, sort the plant leaves according to structure
and characteristics. Try re-grouping them according to
alternate characteristics.
- Conclusions
- Consider how much easier it was to group the non-living
buttons than the living leaves.
- Emphasize that although the peanuts varied in structure,
they were all still members of the same family.
- Extension Ideas
- Try brainstorming and classifying other groups of living
things, like "domestic pets" or "animals you'd see in a
zoo."
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