Mae Talks Harvester Ants

Mae has concluded her study of Harvester Ants in ELP. As a final product of her learning, she decided to create an informational poster that highlighted some of the most important facts she learned. While she learned a lot, we saw quickly that it would have been difficult to list all of those new facts. We instead synthesized our learning into the main ideas, as we saw them. Mae also carefully made a scientific drawing of a Harvester Ant, labeling the main body parts.

To share her work, Mae made the following video to share. The picture below the video is of the scientific drawing she made of the Harvester Ant, which is a little difficult to see in the video. Enjoy!

Mae's (impressive) scientific drawing of a Harvester Ant.

Futures Wheels

Our young futurists have been hard at work on their Futures Wheels. A Futures Wheel is a tool used by futurists to explore impacts of possible events. In this case, students are using the future invention they chose earlier as the "event".  They are tasked with first identifying the primary impacts of their invention, should it become a reality. They then let their creative thinking take over and explore tertiary impacts. The initial stage of this was more of a web than a wheel, with the goal of getting the students thinking about all possible scenarios, no matter how ridiculous (and they often were ridiculous!).

I'll post some examples on here soon so you can see how they look. The kids have now moved on to focusing their thinking into 4-6 primary impacts, and a single chain of possible events that could stem from each. Later, they will present their findings to their ELP group accompanied by their recommendations about whether or not the invention should become a reality.

Futures Studies: Aliens Attack!

Our futurists today took a look into the past to enrich our understanding of the future.  We've talked often about the role choices play in our futures.  We have also discussed that many choices are made based on our emotions.  The future can be a daunting concept to ponder, and anxieties can abound.

In 1938, Americans were seized with worries both domestic and global.  At home, The Great Depression, although moving towards its conclusion, still hovered over the collective consciousness.  Abroad, a guy named Hitler was ravaging Europe, seizing land and becoming more threatening.  It was an anxious time.

On October 30, 1938, Orson Welles unleashed his radio hoax, "War of the Worlds," on a vast listening audience.  With tensions already high, the public was quick to mistake the fiction for fact, and were led to believe that hostile lifeforms from the planet Mars had invaded Earth.  Mass hysteria ensued.  Although a bit comical now, we discussed in class how unnerving such a broadcast would have been given the broader context.  We began listening to a recording of the broadcast to truly understand its impact.  I had to remind the kids that 1938 was before TV, and that, aside from newspapers, radio was the public's primary means of staying connected to the larger world.  The new bulletins (and "new bulletins") they heard on the radio were taken very seriously.

We had a lot of fun listening, and look forward to finishing up on Tuesday when we meet again.

We will let this departure into history lead us to a discussion about our own anxieties about the future, and how they compare to those of people decades ago.  There's a wonderful picture book called Aliens Are Coming! that describes for kids the broadcast, as well as the broader historical context.  I highly recommend it as a shared read with your child.

Ants: Week Three

Mae making her Week Three observations.

Our ant colony continues to change, and Mae made some notable observations today.  Mostly, she reports on how filthy the farm has become.  Many ants have also died, though many (7+) are still thriving and working in their habitat.  They continue to move sand around, and are avid eaters when fed.  They also continue to care for their deceased, moving them to the same area they designated in Week Two.

We learned today that Harvester Ants will travel long distances for food in the natural world, sometimes as much as 25 miles.  They return their finds to their colonies and share their food with all.  Also, although our habitat consisted of around 20 ants at first, a normal ant colony will house upwards of 10,000 ants!  We were shocked to learn that.

As we read about Harvester Ants, we learned that they spend much of their time cutting small pieces of grass for use in their nests.  Mae pointed out that such behavior is like what farmers do with corn, and that they call that work a "harvest".  Great connection to enrich our understanding of of the origins of the name!

Futures Studies: Future Inventions Presentations

Kids have shared their future inventions, and did a wonderful job with them.  They focused on three things with their research:

• What it is
• What it does
• How it works

Beyond that, they told us anything else they thought we should know about it, which prompted some good discussion amongst the group.  I used a simple point system to award my "winner" in each group, tallying presentation components that dealt with the above criteria.  I also awarded extra points for creativity, originality, and other unique qualities.  I will tabulate and publish the winning advertisement here soon.  The kids know this was as friendly a competition as we could have, and I have commended all of them on their work.  Although our "winners" will get the stage with their work being published here first, all will be uploaded eventually.  They were that good!

Check back!

Ants: Week Two

Mae's Observations After One Week of the Ant Farm:

• Some ants have died
• The ants made a hill out of sand, and then took it apart
• The ants bury the dead ants
• The ants have made one tunnel
• The ants are always moving and making something

We'll continue to monitor the progress of the farm, noting changes as we go.  We're also going launch a search for information to help us answer questions we've thought of about Harvester Ants (like why all the constant moving?).

More Ants!

Not a great picture, but enough to see what the ants have accomplished in 36 hours.  They never stop!

Ants!

Here's Mae, a 1st grader at Grant Wood, with her newly established ant farm. It was hard work getting everything set up (especially getting the ants to cooperate!), but everything is now in place for some nice observations over the next few weeks.

The ants are Harvester Ants, and will be very active in showing us how they live and work. In addition to adding tunneling sand and snapping everything VERY securely into place, we also had to add some water to firm up the sand, and a few dashes of sugar water to nourish the ants. We will have to continue to add both food and water to maintain our colony. Our observations will accompany our other learning activities about ants.

This picture of the farm is how it looks on Day 1. Check back for weekly updates to see what our ants have been up to, and to hear what we're learning about their behaviors.

Stay tuned!

Futurology in the Classroom: Futures Studies for Gifted Students

The following link will take you to a story about the use of Futures Studies with gifted students.

Futurology in the Classroom: Futures Studies for Gifted Students

***Note: "Futures Studies" is the phrasing used by some, while others prefer "Future Studies" or "Futurology". They all refer to the same type of study. I prefer "Futures" to help highlight the point that there is not one future, but many possible ones before us.

Futures Studies: First Project

Our young futurists have begun a new mini-project in ELP. A few ELP sessions ago, I shared with them the ten future inventions that futurists agree we will all see at some point in our lifetimes. Kids were then tasked with choosing one to research in a little greater depth. The final product for this is to create an advertisement for their invention that tells:

• What it is
• What it does
• How it works

In true advertising fashion, they have to use facts to persuade. I will represent a wealthy industry magnate interested in investing in a new invention.  As such, the presentations will be (very) friendly competitions to win my business. 

The future inventions kids chose from are:

• Invisibility Cloaks
• Synthetic Reality/Programmable Matter
• Vertical City Farms
• Robotic Soldiers
• Injections to Treat Addictions
• Emotionally Aware Machines
• 3D Printers
• Space Elevator
• Childcare Robots
• Robotic Surgery

A simple Google search for any of these will yield some more information if you are interested. Many of them can be researched at HowStuffWorks.com. 

Through all of this, from research to presentations, we will be talking about the potential impact of these inventions on our futures. I will post some samples of the advertisements here when they are ready. It ought to be fun!

Futures Studies

Students engaging in the Futures Studies unit will do a variety of activities. This is a multifaceted unit of study where students are challenged to analyze complex and unfamiliar information. The framework of this unit will guide students toward answering the following key questions:

• What is Futures Studies and why is it important?
• How is it possible to know about the future?
• What techniques are used by futurists?
• What are the factors, forces, events, and/or trends that shape our futures?
• What causes change?
• How do people understand and accept change?

The student learning objectives for this unit are:

• Define Futures Studies.
• Give reasons for studying the future.
• Identify and describe the influence on the future of the following factors: trends, events, choices, and adaptations to change.
• Identify key facts and features of a future invention.
• Define and apply each of the following tools of the futurist:
• Future Wheel
• Scenario Forecasting
• Trend Analysis/Extrapolation
• Synthesize futurist tools.
• Use knowledge of the future to interpret metaphors.

We will be doing some math, some science, some literature, and a little bit of various other subject areas as we work on our unit. Rich discussions typically abound when the future is our topic, so I will do my best to keep you updated on tidbits from in class.

One activity we have already done is a visualization exercise where I talked kids to the year 3,000. There, they observed elements of this future world, focusing on the cultural components they saw. This led to some great discussions afterward. It serves as good information for me as we begin our unit. It is helpful to know general attitudes and feelings about the future to help guide our work in the unit ahead.