My daughter came to me with a book the other day.

She stated that she wants to go on a nature walk and wants to identify the various flowers along the trail.  I thought to myself, "I don't have time for this."  She stood there grinning saying, "It will be so much fun for us to look at plants and then find them in the book."  After seeing this excitement how could I say no.  Plus, this is a way to supplement her education.  Science education is quite lacking in the United States. 

Here is West Virginia's average scores for grade 8 http://nationsreportcard.gov/science_2011/g8_state.asp

West Virginia scored 149.  The national average was 151.  This was based on a points scale 0-300.
Grade for WV = 49.7%
National Average = 50.3%

Can we say FAIL?

Let's get back to where I was going with this... I began asking questions. 
Question 1- What do we need to know to be able to identify flowers?
Answer- The color of the flower.
Question 2-  Do all white flowers look the same?
Answer- No.
Question 3- Why not?
Answer- The have different shapes of petals.  Oh, and they have a different amount of petals.
Question 4- Is that all?
Answer (after thinking a bit)-  They aren't all the same height and the stems and leaves are different.

Using critical thinking skills (a few open ended questions on my part) we determined what types of things we needed to look for when identifying wildflowers.  I feel we are prepared to go on a hike now.  We have our wildflowers book, notebook and pencil and a lust for learning.

 I feel that if the test scores are going to improve in science that something needs to be done in the educational system.  I'm not sure of the answer.  Maybe not teaching to pass a test would help.  Maybe they need to do more hands on projects.  Maybe they need to incorporate more technology.

I do not have the answer but apparently neither do those in charge.  Until then, I have no problem supplementing my child's education.  At least I know she is learning something.  It may not be needed to pass a test but she is developing other skills (critical thinking) and learning about something she is interested in.

Tonight, we hike!

West Virginia Grown

Today I visited a local farmer's market. I picked up some peaches, plums, nectarines and honey. I also talked with the nice older lady that was working. She said the idea of the market was to encourage people to eat more fruits and veggies, especially locally grown items. This not only helps local farmers but puts quality foods on the plates of families. She also informed me that the local farmers wanted to sell their goods but most were unwilling to sit around waiting for customers. That means that most items were brought in and sold to the market on consignment, which has its good and bad points.

I personally enjoy meeting people and getting to know a bit about them. If the farmers were present then the buyer could find out information on the produce and personal information about the farm and farmer. The farmer could receive input from the customers on what type of goods they are willing to purchase, which could expand the choices from the basics of corn, tomatoes and green beans to more "exotic" items like asparagus and okra, to name a few. However, I understand that a farmer's work is continuous and doesn't have time to sit around waiting and socializing.

However, it would be great if the local farmers and the foodies in the area could get together and chat about what we want from one another. More variety of fruits and veggies would be wonderful. Maybe the foodies could make up recipe cards so people could see what could be made with the staple veggies and the "exotics." Just a thought.

Caterpillars to Butterflies or Moths

My daughters class was working on a 21st Century project. They were studying the life cycle of the painted lady butterfly. They started with eggs, caterpillars, chrysalis and then butterflies. They kept a journal of their observations during the course of their project.

My daughter found caterpillars at home and asked if she could do a similar project at the house. So, I helped my daughter with her project. We got online and identified the caterpillar (eastern tent caterpillar) and proceeded to look up information on the care of the caterpillar. We collected the appropriate food source (fruit tree leaves preferable) and set up a habitat with tree bark and sticks. After several days the caterpillars went into the chrysalis then in about 3 weeks the caterpillars hatched. The eastern tent caterpillar does not become a butterfly but a moth.



On June 4, 2009, my daughters class (and a couple of others) will be presenting their projects to parents, teachers and school board members. They will become the teachers. My daughter also helped me by doing her own presentation at home with our project. To view a video of the project (part 1) click on the link below.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwrCBYVzVSM