Wednesday, January 15, 2014

The Endangered Project (Day Two)

In an attempt to lead students towards the information they will need to compile, each class searched for anything they could find about one specific plant. This was practice for when I set them free to choose whatever plant they want to work with.





1st period: the Sun Belle tomato.
2nd period: the Pineapple tomato.
3rd period: the Red Fig tomato.
6th period: the Dixie Golden Giant.
8th period: the White Zebra tomato.

During the search, I had them dig for information in the following categories listed on the main worksheet for the project:
  • Name of the plant:
  • What is the provenance of the plant:
  • List some the main reasons why it is endangered or considered an heirloom:
  • What specific conditions does it require to grow and thrive:
  • What are its favorite companion plants:
  • What makes it unique/special. Consider use, flavor, texture, share, color, contributions to the natural world:
  • List/Track all of the places you learned or borrowed information/experiences:
The purpose was to do the exercise together in a large group so that I could direct them through obstacles and encourage them to dig deeper into the online resources. Sometimes a younger student will simply take the first information available and pass on the opportunity of exploring and unearthing some other gems of knowledge.

Some of the common learning experiences today:
  • discovering the provenance of a plant is not so easy in some cases
  • information about plants is scattered all over the internet
  • plants are quirky and have a variety of needs
The next step is turn the project over to them: let them dig through some pre-selected resources, choose an endangered/heirloom plant, and find the story. What needs to be communicated and shared?

Day One       Day Three

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