Enjoying Mother Natures Wonders

Using ones combined senses to extend knowledge is explained by this article written by a retired teacher about mimosa trees. Reading the article provides us with good background information... See More

Using ones combined senses to extend knowledge is explained by this article written by a retired teacher about mimosa trees. Reading the article provides us with good background information about the tree. From this background information the author suggests several research questions that will extend learning based on student collected data. The reader might not have an abundance of mimosa trees in their region but using this model of investigation might be helpful for another species prevalent in their area, especially during the flowering season of the plant.

Curiosity of Nature Continues in the Classroom

This article provides a way to take outdoor field observations and students’ natural curiosity for nature back into the classroom for further study. After observing and studying a mimosa tr... See More

This article provides a way to take outdoor field observations and students’ natural curiosity for nature back into the classroom for further study. After observing and studying a mimosa tree, students return to the classroom to delve deeper into attributes of this ancient plant with its historical roots in China. As students learn more and more about the plant from their research, they eventually have enough background information to help them generate research questions, design experiments, etc. The article is filled with interesting facts about the mimosa tree. It would have been helpful to include the teacher’s rubrics, templates, or student samples of research projects to help better visualize the inquiry process that was taking place in this classroom.