Classification

[Voice]

G'day All,
Have checked through the forums and not found what I want....maybe it's me! But can you please help with ideas about doing classification with different substances...e.g. sweets, pasta...etc. Thank you for any help.
Maree

[Loopy]

We use nuts bolts and screws.
Lou.

[smiley]

Seen it done with buttons - boring and inedible, but there you go. Get a bunch of button from the local Vinnies store. Classify them by material - e.g. plastic, metal, shell, wood etc, or attachment type, e.g. posts or holes, then two hole or four holes, or even colour.

We classify animals, using plastic toy animals. I've collected reptiles, mammals (a Bart Simpson represents humans - scarily) insects, marsupials, birds etc. Kids think its funny to play with toys, and we basically ask them to use what they KNOW about certain animals. For example, we know that lions are furry, and give birth to live young, and are not small, plastic, and baby-poo green, despite the evidence in front of us!

Could be fun to devise a lolly experiment, comparing jelly lollies with candy covered chocolates (are M&Ms a sub-species of Smarties?), and boiled lollies with lollypops! Have to think about that one.

[Sassi]

are M&Ms a sub-species of Smarties.

Ahhhhh Smiley I soooo miss you, you are just so nuts... in a good way off course

Cheers,
Sass

[dolphinscales]

the pasta - love that idea

and the plastic animals -pitty i got rid of all the ones i had at home a few months back

the kids will love the lollies idea - might work on that one for the good kids

great ideas people

we use nuts,bolts and screws also to start wtih then have the bottled speciments and or insect collection out .

[vlclabbie]

Hmmmmm mini M&Ms could be a subspecies of Smarties too then! Mmmmmmm do we need to research this a bit more????

[smiley]

Have they "pygmy-ised" to adapt to a smaller environment? Are Jaffas related at the Genus level? Are they "New World" chocolates, compared to the "Old World" Belgian variety?

Sorry, must be the heat!

[Sassi]

Ahh yeah we totally need to do a study on this! I volunteer to be a test rat (instead of popcorn, think of it as a bag of m&m's!!!)

[smiley]

That's going to be my pet project now - to devise a classification experiment using lollies. Should be fun.

[dolphinscales]

sounds like the plan

[vlclabbie]

I'm in!!!!!!!!! Can't wait to see where Polly Waffles are classified.... strange name genus?

What about teachers..... good / bad.... scary / mean .... Can't believe they got a degree / etc.......!

[smeee]

We have different types of pasta coloured with food dye. Can be classified by shape, colour, size etc..
Works well.
Lollies are good ( expensive ) and boys being boys...well...say no more ! lol

[sunray18]

We have a container containing all sorts of equipment.. watchglasses and heat mats in different sizes, toothpicks in different colours, but I LIKE the chocolates one much better - though HOW many of the M%M would get to class is a difficult question, because they woudl ALL need to be tested wouldnt they

[vlclabbie]

Of course! Good point! STOP! Quality control should be very good on the Chocolate classification wouldn't it?!!

Oh on a serious note.... my teacher just suggested leaves that have been collected from the school grounds...

[smiley]

LEAVES! Too boring, and much to close to actual reality. Can't eat leaves, well not the ones off most trees anyway!

[macca]

Hey smiley, why not, that would make for an interesting afternoon in the science department.
Maybe Arum Lilly leaves, they numb the mouth for about 20 mins. All those dribbling kids that wouldn't be able to speak. or is that to nasty.

[smiley]

Hey! WE have Gympie-gympie trees. Why hold back? Do something that takes 18 months to recover from! Yay! Mind you, the Arum lillies are VERY tempting.

But seriously, we had a cherub bring in gympie leaves for an EEI on leaf structure & function, and I had to suggest that we DIDN'T use them. Fortunately, she had picked those of a lesser cousin to the full-on tree.

[Loopy]

Forgive my ignorance, what are gympie-gympie trees?
Lou.

[rodannt]

I have had a teacher bring in stinging nettles when her class was looking at classification............................smart.................

[smiley]

Gympie-gympie trees are QLD stinging trees. The tree comes in about 6 variants, from a waterside growth about 1m high, to a full-on tree. The bigger they are, the more they hurt. The leaves have little stand-up hairs with a toxin in them. If you brush past a leaf, you get one zillion stinging hairs in your arm, and the pain is apparently indescribable. People use gaffer tape or ladies leg wax to remove the hairs. The natural antidote is often growing right near the tree, as shown to me by some of the local indigenous population, otherwise it's time to mainline Neurofen etc, and get to medical help.