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Overview: Children use their five senses and simple measurements to observe and describe the characteristics of a common peanut. By combining this activity with the informational book, The Life and Times of the Peanut by Charles Micuucci, students discover interesting facts about the peanut while they practice using several science process skills.
Booklink: The Life and Times of the Peanut by Charles Micuucci, Houghton Mifflin, 1997. ISBN 0-618-03314-9
Science Activity Link: Using observational skills, both qualitative and quantitative, children describe through words and pictures the characteristics of a peanut.
Objective: Children will observe characteristics of a peanut, measure the size of a peanut in cm or mm, and describe the peanut's qualities, uses, and history.
Science Processes and Content: Processes-observing, communicating, measuring and estimating, inferring, classifying, gathering and recording data, and defining operationally. Content-characteristics of a seed and plant, technology (picking and production of peanut products), nutrient cycle (nitrogen replacement in the soil), nutrition, and historical information, e.g. George Washington Carver.
National Science Education Standards: Unifying Concepts and Processes, (1) Science as Inquiry, (3) Life Science, (6) Science in Personal and Social Perspectives, (7) History and Nature of Science
Materials: peanuts still in the shell, at least two per child, white paper, colored pencils, metric ruler, scale or balance (optional), box or other such container "one for every 8-12 students" book The Life and Times of the Peanut.
Procedure:
The teacher will distribute paper, colored pencils, and metric rulers to the students. They will also be given a peanut and be instructed not to open the peanut or mark or mar it in any way.
Ask the students to tell you what they use to make observations. (Their five senses.) Tell the students that these are qualitative observations because they describe qualities or characteristics of a particular object. Ask them if they can think of another type of observation they can make. (Measurements.) Assigning a number to an object, such as a measurement of length, is a quantitative observation.
Note: Qualitative and quantitative may be too complex of a concept for younger students. In any case, students should be encouraged to make both types of observations.
The students will be instructed to become very familiar with their very own personal peanut. Turn it every way, shake it, feel it, observe it closely. Tell them to pretend that they have just made a new friend on the Internet and that this new friend has never seen a peanut. Since peanuts are favorite things to eat, they want to share peanut information with their new friend. In writing, the children describe their peanut. They may write phrases, words, and/or complete sentences. You may wish to point out sentence parts to them, such as adjectives. Instruct them to write as much as they can about what they observe. Five to ten minutes should be given for this portion of the activity. Next, have the children draw and color a picture of their peanut. Tell them to draw the side that has the most distinguishing features. This will also take from five to ten minutes.
When they have completed these tasks, divide the children up into groups of 8-12 students. Have each group put their peanuts in a box and mix them up. For each group, have them do the following:
One child will begin by reading their description and showing the picture of their peanut to a particular child in the group (one possibility is: going clockwise, have the person to the left of the reader be the observer). The observer should try to locate the peanut that has been described. Once the peanut has been chosen and verified by the reader, it is put back in the box and mixed with the other peanuts. This process should continue until each child gets an opportunity to read and share their peanut picture with the group.
The children may then open their peanuts and investigate the insides. Observations may once again be recorded or discussed verbally. Different areas of discussion can follow. Possible questions might be:
What is considered waste on a peanut? (Operational definition of "waste")
How much is waste and how much is food? Weight of each?
How many seeds were inside your peanut?
Was each seed the same size?
What did you observe that you never before observed about a peanut?
Is a peanut a nut? (Classifying nuts and seeds)
Conclude the activity by reading the book, The Life and Times of the Peanut by Charles Micuucci. Have the students make a chart listing: "Things I Knew About Peanuts" and "Things I Just Learned About Peanuts". There are innumerable different avenues of investigation possible after reading this book.
Safety: Make sure none of your students are allergic to peanuts.
Related Books:
A Pocketful of Goobers - A Story About George Washington Carver by Barbara Mitchell, Learner Publishing Group, 1986. ISBN 0-87614-474-1
What's for Lunch? PEANUTS by Claire Llewellyn, Franklin Watts, 1998. ISBN 0-516-26222-X
Spill the Beans and Pass the Peanuts…Legumes by Meredith Sayles Hughes, Learner Publications Company, 1999. ISBN 0-8225-2823-7
Peanut Butter by Arlene Erlbach, Lerner Publications Company, 1994. ISBN 0-8225-9709-8
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