The kids and I are doing a mammal unit, using the IMIUAWGA (“I Make it Up as We Go Along”) Method. We’ve been working on animal classification.

Here I made a Venn diagram with yarn. (I prefer hula hoops, but I was too lazy to go out to the shed and hunt them up) Each circle is labeled with a white index card. One circle is titled “structural adaptations” and the other is “behavioral adaptations.” Each colored card describes a mammal adaptation. The kid’s job, obviously, is to decide whether the adaptation is structural, behavioral, or both. Examples of these adaptations include:

1. Some mammals hibernate during the winter. (a behavioral adaptation)

2. Mammals living in old regions have thicker fur in winter (a structural adaptation)

3. Elephants fan their enormous ears to keep cool (both)

I may type up the whole thing for James’ science notebook.

This is a Montessorish activity I made. There are about 100 mammal cards, which each child sorted by order. The activity is self correcting, because the back of each mammal card matches the label for its order. For example, the back of the kangaroo is orange, as is the label that says “marsupials.”

Mammal Classification Project (Labels)
Mammal Cards

My 9-year-old enjoyed this activity, and my 13-year-old didn’t mind it. The idea is to spread out the labels showing the names of mammal orders and try to match each mammal card to its order. (This is not a complete list of mammal orders, by the way. There are about 27, and scientists seem to keep changing them. )

The activity is self correcting, of course, because when the child turns over a card, it is color coded to match the label. For example, the back of the koala card is orange, and the “Marsupials” label is orange.

The idea isn’t to get all the “right answers.” I certainly don’t know which ungulates are even toed and which are odd toed. And is a shrew a rodent or an insectivore? — I’m not sure. And there is absolutely no sense in trying to memorize this kind of stuff! The point of the exercise was to get hands-on experience in using the kind of logic scientists apply when they classify different species. As we did the activity, we talked about the distinguishing characteristic of each order. With carnivores, it’s all about the teeth. They have large, sharp canine teeth for ripping meat. If it has an opposable thumb, it’s probably a primate. Rodents have teeth adapted for gnawing. And so forth. Essentially scientists classify animals by distinctive traits which adapt them for the lives they live.

I also described a Venn Diagram activity we did using large overlapping circles, made of yarn, laid out on the playroom floor. Actually I much prefer using hula hoops, but I was too lazy to go out to the shed and get them.

I put it in written form here:

Venn Diagram Activity

I wrote each of the 20 traits on my list on an index card. I also wrote “Structural Adaptations” on one index card and “Behavioral Adaptations” on another. I used these to label the circles. The kids sorted each of the 20 traits in the circles. If they thought it was a structural adaptation, they put it in the circle labeled “Structural Adaptations.” If they thought it was a behavioral adaptation, they put it in the circle labeled “Behavioral Adaptations.” if they thought it was BOTH, they put in in the area where the two circles overlap.

Again, it was not all about “right” answers. Many of them could be interpreted several ways. For example, one of the traits was the fact that a chimpanzee uses a stick to collect termites. James and I thought that was clearly a behavioral adaptation. Sarah chose “both,” because the chimp wouldn’t be able to do this if he didn’t have a primate’s hands. A primate’s high intelligence comes into play, too. Anyway, the point was to apply logic, and to think and talk about these concepts, not to get “right” answers. Does this make sense?

I also asked each of the kids to narrate about natural selection. We touched on the fact that evolutionary theory forms the framework of virtually all biology that is studied today. We’ve also talked a bit about my belief in theistic evolution and about non-theistic evolution and seven-day Creationism.