Muffins!

Well today the 'proof was in the pudding' if you will excuse the pun. The challenge was set. Observational drawing of muffins with all the hard efforts being rewarded by eating it at the end. They couldn't believe their luck. 

We warmed up with more 'blind drawing' of objects of their choice then it was onto dessert. During drawing you could have heard a pin drop so focused was the concentration. 

The results were amazing! When the emphasis was placed on 'really noticing' and not artistic ability the students were relaxed enough to take risks with their sketches. From their 'blind drawing the students learnt to 'look' with their eyes by running them over every little surface. They were were very proud of what they achieved.

Using Microscopes

Using Microscopes

We began today with watching a video that explained how scanning electron microscopy worked and viewed some images of the magnified wax that they could feel on the leaves.

We then cut thin cross sections from the harakeke leaves and basically learned how the microscopes worked through having a play with them. We discovered a couple of experts who were great at this were keen to show others how they managed to focus them and which level of light worked best. Students were excited about their images and the noise level rose quickly as they wanted others to see what they could view.

A cross-section of harakeke

The next activity involved extracting fibre from the flax and discovering how strong this natural product is. Many students already had background knowledge of the many uses of harakeke fibre by Maori. They found extracting the fibre was not as easy as it looked. 

We examined the fibre strands under the various magnifications and then with 10 minutes spare time we looked at anything and everything under the microscopes. So many objects came to life when viewed this way. Bevan's finger tip was amazing and someone suggested it looked just like a planet. 

To the human eye this was just a whitish dirty patch deep down on the leaf near the plant base but under the microscope it was a nest of slaters feeding on the plant debris.

Our next step in observation was examining our hands and having a go at 'blind drawing'. We were not allowed to look at our drawing hand or take our pencil off (the line had to be continuous). The focus was not on artistic ability BUT on what we could observe and notice in the detail of our opposite hand. Try it. It is not an easy thing to do. The temptation to look at what you are drawing is enormous and trying to keep your eyes moving slowly around the outline of your hand requires lots of concentration. It was so weird. No one was talking!


Some of the results were amazing!

I wonder what we are going to draw next ...

Observations

Well today it was all about 'observing'. In science we are continuously refering to 'what can you see?' but do they really know 'how' to see?

We started off with thinking about what 'observing' actually meant and then the kids brainstormed all the different ways that we can observe something and the large number of synonyms for 'observe'. They loved using the new whiteboard tables to do this.

I decided to use the context of harakeke as we have an abundance of this resource in our school which is under used. After a discussion on the 'what' and 'why' of the tikanga regarding our native flax we were off, armed with craft knives and a set of new bug catchers. It was wonderful to see some of our Yr 8 girls volunteer and confidently read the karakia for us.

Of course, once back in class all the creepy crawlies that we found living on the harakeke were far more interesting than examining the harakeke leaves themselves so we went with that as a starting point. We found many insects and spiders that we were able to identify from the classification sheets we had and just as many that needed further investigation. We only just got started on the harakeke leaves when time was up! Wow that went fast. Can't wait to use the brand new magnifying glasses and microscopes in the next session.