The article What’s behind the biological classification system in use today? goes beyond memorization and the mnemonic devices used to remember the hierarchy (King Philip Came Over From Germany Smiling was my bio teacher’s favorite). The author reviews the rationale for classification and describes the cladistics mechanism used in the classification today. Although there are SciLinks entries with the keyword classification at all three levels (K–4, 5–8, 9–12) there is more background information on the  phylogenetic approach to classification at the 5–8 and 9–12 levels. Start with The History of Life: Looking at the Patterns and Using Trees for Classification.

The activity in How Symbiosis Creates Diversity can help students to understand the behaviors of symbiosis, mutualism, commensalism, and parasitism. The SciLinks for symbiosis seem to focus more on parasitism, but Ecological Communities: Networks of Interacting Species is a nice overview.

With a “wintry mix” of precipitation outside my window, I wish that I could join in on a Journey to the Reef. To complement a unit such as this, Scilinks has many resources on Coral Reefs. I especially like the Corals site from NOAA.

Clues to the Past uses the Bald Eagle as an example of a species made a comeback from the brink of extinction in the lower 48 states not long ago. Altough the SciLinks collection Mass Extinctions focuses mainly on dinosaurs, it might be interesting to compare and contrast the reasons for extinction as a follow-up discussion.

Feathering Your Nest shows how younger students used the process of observation, measurement, and communication to study the relationship between bird nests and their habitats. The pictures of bird nests suggested by the authors are interesting, especially since as the article notes, collecting bird nests without a permit may be illegal in your state.

I was blown away by the article Clash of the Titans, and not just by the photograph on the title page. The author shows how two very powerful instructional approaches – the 5E learning model and WebQuests can be integrated, rather than used as separate entities. The lesson described by the author also incorporated “driving” questions, graphic organizers, formative assessments, rubrics. It would be interesting to see additional lessons created in this way. Every time I read this article, I see more applications.

Check out the Connections for each issue. Even if the article does not quite fit with your lesson agenda, this resource has ideas for handouts, background information sheets, data sheets, rubrics, etc.

On the playground two sisters collected rocks and set them on a bench where they grouped them by size. When I asked, “What kind of rock is that?” one said, “A triangle” referring to its outer shape. They also had a group based on material— small chunks of concrete were put together because “they have little pieces in them.”

Urban rock collecting is discussed on the Neighborhood Rocks webpage. View the identification pages with your class and ask them if they have seen any of the pictured types of rock before, and where did they see them?

In my east coast urban setting “real” rocks, or rocks naturally in place, are hard to find without excavating. Walking along a creek is one place to find rocks that have been moved there by natural forces, not by humans. Along the Potomac River and its minor tributaries are good places to touch water-worn rocks. (Be sure to wash hands afterwards.) You don’t have to know what type of rock it is, to appreciate that it is smooth and pinkish, or has sparkles, or has holes in it.

Label even the most non-descript rock with the location and date collected, and that single rock becomes the beginning of a scientific rock collection. Maybe a high school earth science teacher would be willing to view the collection and help with scientific names.

In the December 2006 Science and Children, The Early Years column discusses exploring sedimentary rock material with young children with an activity on making pretend rocks. Search the journal archives for “rock” find 22 more articles on teaching about rocks. Young children can experience melting ice, deforming playdough or clay, packing snow or sand into a ball, and the softening of hardened clay in water. In your experience, at what age do they typically understand the Rock Cycle?

Peggy

Classifying Classification describes how a team of first-grade teachers examined their own instruction in classification and how it related to their state standards. Check out the rubric they created and how it could be adapted for older students. They also have a continuum for classification activities: matching, sorting, categorizing, and interpreting. I wonder how many teachers of older students repeat these activities without knowing what the students have done in the younger grades? Are we challenging students along a continuum or doing the same level of activities again and again?

The SciLinks database has some good resources and lesson ideas on the topic at the K-4 level. Websites for the middle grades and high school can be accessed by entering classification as a keyword for lists of websites related to classification systems, classification of rocks, and the basis for classification.

The students’ activities described in Shark Teeth helped them to learn that scientists classify for a purpose. And the authors describe how the students also learned how to use the graphing feature of Excel (with which many adults struggle!). The SciLinks keyword sharks has websites listed for grades 9-12, but you can preview and select any that would be appropriate for your students or as background information for yourself.

We often think of classification in terms of living things, but Does Light Go Through It? shows that even very young children can describe patterns and characteristics. I think that even older students would understand vocabulary such as opaque, transparent, and translucent if they have some hands-on experiences to explore the concepts.

The February issue of Science Scope has a “Classification” theme also. Many of the activities in that issue could be adapted for younger (or older) students. I’ve found that with any of these classification activities, the point is not for students to get a “correct” answer. The real value is in the discussions students have about the similarities and differences of the objects and in the teacher’s guidance through the processes. You can learn a lot by listening and guiding when necessary as students develop their skills in observation, description, measuring, graphing, summarizing via their journals, and making connections.

My experiences at an Orioles game will never be the same after reading What Makes a Curveball Curve. Check out SciLinks for websites describing and investigating the science behind many sports.

Reading this issue’s articles on English Language Learners (ELLs) — Challenges and Solutions for ELLs and Making the Connection — brought back memories of many students in my classes, but especially of Philippe, who moved to my town from Haiti. Philippe spoke a little English, but no one in our school spoke French or Haitian Creole. He must have felt very lonely and isolated. But one day on a field trip as we were collecting and studying aquatic arthropods, his eyes lit up and he began to share his experiences with crabs and other marine animals. Science provided a connection between Philippe and the other students.

I wish I would have had more resources to share with Philippe — but this was BI (before the Internet), so we were limited in what materials we could access. This is not the case in 2009! For example, the libraries at Visionlearning have resources that would supplement science units on a variety of topics — and this website and the resources are available in both English and Spanish. Spanish teachers may be interested in this site, too, to provide reading materials for SLL students (Spanish Language Learners).

And for students who struggle with reading, try searching for topics in SciLinks at a lower grade level. For example, if you’re looking for sites for a high school course, also search for the topic at the middle school or upper elementary levels. Many of these are very appropriate for any age group in terms of readability and interest.

Language diversity is not he only kind of diversity in our classrooms. The article Teaching with Multiple Methods in Mind describes ways to address the various learning styles and preferences that students have. There is also a topic in SciLinks with resources on working with Learners with Disabilities.

SciLinks also includes resources for reading and writing in science (although most of the sites at this time deal with reading). For example, LabWrite guides students through the process of writing lab reports. But the article Reflective Writing discusses the use of writing to help students to go beyond lab reports to reflect on what they are actually learning. This type of writing is often recorded in a Science Notebook.

As a sidebar, also check out SciLinks for Dichotomous Keys to supplement the article Classification and the Dichotomous Key. For example, the website What Is the Key to Classification? has more suggestions for helping students to create (as well as use) these keys.

In last month’s issue of Science and Children, Bill Robertson asks the question “Why do we classify things in science?” He notes that many teachers teach classification as an end in itself or as a communications exercise. He suggests that “Classification in the classroom should lead toward the understanding of concepts, or at least should be done with an eye toward the ultimate purpose, such as the classification of rocks leading toward an understanding of the formation of geologic features” (page 70).

I visited an elementary class in which the teacher had a collection of small objects, which the students were to categorize. The students had lively discussions as they sorted the objects into the compartments of a cafeteria tray. But the teacher went beyond this simple activity – she had the teams exchange trays and try to figure out what characteristics the other team used to create the groups. Then she gave them some new objects and asked where (and if) the objects fit and whether the groups should be changed or expanded to accommodate the new objects. Two of the articles in this Science Scope also take classification one step further, with follow-ups to scavenger hunts using GPS units and digital cameras!

There are many terrific websites that help students understand the concepts of biological classification, such as those in the Explore Classification section of SciLinks. But let’s not forget that other sciences also use classifications such as the the Periodic Table, simple machines, galaxies, and hurricanes.

Regardless of the subject, instructing students in the process of identifying similarities and differences (through the processes of comparing and classifying) has been found to improve student achievement. In Classroom Instruction That Works. Robert Marzano and his colleagues cite this research and describe two types of classification activities: 1) giving students the categories and asking them to classify items and 2) giving students the items and asking them to sort them into categories of their own creation. The authors note that using graphic organizers can help students to determine the patterns. And science is full of graphic representations of classifications schemes (just think of what can be learned from looking at the Periodic Table). History of Life: Looking at the Pattern depicts the current thinking about how living things are classified based on patterns and observations.

How many of us learned that Pluto was classified as a planet and that there are three kingdoms of living things? It’s exciting to see how new information causes us to rethink what we thought we knew.