COPPERAS COVE, TX (March 30, 2022)—Clements/Parsons Elementary second graders in teacher Sheila Grantham's Genius Hour, an after-school club, have been busy as bees learning about a variety of pollinators as Spring arrives in Texas.
Students compared the ways living organisms depend on each other and on their environments.
“Students took flight by watching an extremely slow-motion video in which a bee gathers the pollen from a flower. This simple action ignited an excitement in these second graders. When students get excited about learning, it also makes me excited,” Grantham said.
Students researched how a variety of pollinators uses a wide range of measures to gather and disperse pollen. Students compared materials with different textures to identify which ones most efficiently would hold and carry the pollen. The two most common materials chosen by the students to test their hypotheses were bendable plastic straws and pipe cleaners. The students used granulated sugar and cinnamon to create their pollen.
While most students determined the pipe cleaners were the most realistic choice, student Oliver Parsons was partial to the straw.
“The accordion part of the straw also works to gather and carry the pollen,” he said.
Students wondered if people could also be pollinators and tested their theory using cheese puffs, flower shapes cut from coffee filters, and brown bags. Using the dusty flavoring from the cheese puffs as their pollen, students used their hands to "pollinate" their flowers, leaving the cheese dust on the coffee filters everywhere they were touched.
“Students were able to brainstorm a swarm of ways we acted as pollinators. This colony of learners ended their study by creating their own pollinators to continue the buzz at home,” Grantham said.
Using a multitude of recycled items, the second graders upcycled their own creations. Brynn Warren designed a cross between a hummingbird and bee to create Brynn's Humminator while Carsyn Grantham used the recycle materials including Styrofoam cups, straws, and pipe cleaners to create grasshopper’s legs, bee wings, and antennae. He nicknamed the creation, Hoppinator Pollinator.
Grantham said the hands-on experiments helped students develop the skills necessary to do science as well as develop new science concepts. The after-school club, Genius Hour, is an approach to learning where students are guided by their own interests, background knowledge, and curiosity to learn. It is less organized, less formal, and less standardized than traditional learning and is characterized by student self-direction, passion-based learning, inquiry, and autonomy.
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