Am I the only one who regularly peruses the selection of dried beans at the grocery store?
I've found a variety of uses for them... not sure I can even remember them all of the top of my head, but I'll do my best.
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Natural Resources
I love this one...
You'll need two different types of beans, I'd recommend black beans to represent coal and something that is clearly different in appearence (split peas, perhaps) to represent solar power. Before the kids come in, place a few handfuls of each type of bean around the room. Divide the kids into two groups: the coal miners and the solar energy harvesters. Give the kids 30 seconds to go out and collect their type of energy. At the end of 30 seconds, they come back together with their group and count the resources they found - make a chart on the board. While they're counting and recording, walk around the room and place another handful or two of the solar energy beans around. Then give the students another 30 seconds to collect their energy. Do several round, continuing to replace the solar energy every time. Some students will notice what you're doing... don't say anything until you're all done.
The coal numbers will reduce drastically every round, while the solar energy numbers will bounce around but stay about the same. Great way to start talking about the differences between renewable and non-renewable resources.
The idea initially came from Alliant Energy, but it was just for mining coal and they used pennies (oooo.... I could file that under the penny post... ). I came up with the idea of adding the solar power and using the beans.
PS You will find beans throughout your classroom for days to come...
Dissect Them
Soak a bowl full of dried beans in water overnight (but not any longer...). There's not much to a seed, but the students will be able to identify the parts. They can pull off the seed coat, they can split apart the stored food, and you can find the cotyledon. (Sometimes, the cotyledon will rip off with the seed coat, so if someone doesn't have one, check there).
I use the biggest beans I can find and let each student take one apart. It doesn't take long or cost much, but it's so much more interesting than that picture in the book.
Grow Them
Did you know that dried beans will sprout and grow? And, you can get a 1 lb. bag for $.99 at the grocery store - so much cheaper than packages of garden seeds!
Here's how I have my students sprout them: each student gets a zip-top sandwich bag and one piece of paper towel. They get the paper towel wet and then wring out as much water as possible. They open the towel flat and then fold it into quarters. It is then slid into the plastic bag. The students then place several (~6) seeds in a horizontal line about an inch from the bottom of the bag (none of this needs to be exact). They push all the air out of the bag and seal the top - the beans will pretty well stay put (barring large quantities of middle school abuse). That's it - you don't need to add water or anything and I love that I don't have to use dirt. I have the students keep a journal for a week or two, just documenting the development. You'll have some seeds that won't sprout, but with that many seeds per bag, everyone should get at least some growth (unless, of course, they choose to place their seeds under several textbooks and crush the seeds...)
I just put a comment on under sugar cubes and by mistake did not put my name. It was the one about half-life. Oh well. Here is one for beans.
Sandyfay said...
I used beans, red ones and white ones to illustrate probability. I put 100 white beans and 100 red beans in a brown lunch bag for every two students. Each student removes one bean from the bag. They then record on the data table of the lab report whether they got one red and one white bean, or two white beans, or two red beans. When they complete the removal of all the beans and record all the results they analyze what they got.
I found an Owl Family Survival activity on www.middleschoolscience.com that I used last year. The lesson uses white beans and a few black beans. The owl parents have to leave the nest to find food (beans) using plastic forks. Some of the forks have all of their tines, others are missing tines. The white beans are food, but the black beans are poisonous. My students loved this lesson. Here's a direct link..
http://www.middleschoolscience.com/owlfamily.pdf
My students loved, loved, loved this activity!
Laurie
I use dried beans as markers for games and bingo! They are cheap and easy to replace. I also have used them in a genetics activity for the Beanies Family. I have drawn beanie characters to represent the parent and students have to make predictions about coat color using a punnet square. They then receive a male dixie cup with 25 red and 25 white beans, and a female cup set-up the same way. students randomly draw a bean from each cup and record the gentotype in a chart. We also record results in a class chart and discuss how the results of their punnet squares become more accurate the more trials that are done.
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