By Paul DeCampo, Cheryl Dixon, Emily Kissner and Sue Thera
This issue's Planet Earth Pages feature activities that explore the great variety of patterns in nature. Because patterns are all around us, they are an excellent concept to use to integrate subjects. The activities are presented in three grade-level categories, but there well may be activities in one of the adjacent age categories that can be adapted to your class. Have a look!
Art/Nature Study
Pattern search: Have students look for patterns in a variety of items from nature such as rocks, shells, flowers, feathers, leaves, tree bark and cross sections from trees. Look for similarities in the patterns of these natural objects. Also look for human-made patterns, both inside and outside the classroom: combs, stacks of paper, calendars, printed or textured fabrics, brick houses, tiled roofs, fences, and so forth. Have students draw pictures of these patterns, make crayon rubbings of patterned textures in items such as leaves and feathers, and create their own patterns using bricks or other objects. Students' drawings, crayon rubbings or photographs of interesting patterns can be added to a class "Patterns in Nature" file. -- (ST)
Thumbprints: Have students make thumbprints using paint on paper. Observe any similarities in the patterns and discuss differences. Point out that even babies have thumbprints and no two people have identical prints. Later add arms, legs and tails to the thumbprints for a great art project. -- (ST)
Pattern hikes: On walks around the schoolyard or neighborhood, have students look for items of specific shapes, colors or textures. For example: Geometry hike -- Cut pieces of construction paper into different geometric shapes and give one shape to each student or small group. On your walk, have the students look for items that are similar in shape to their piece of paper. Share the items with the class. Color Hike -- Assign each student or group a different color by handing out colored paper, paint sample strips or crayons. (I like to use the colors of the rainbow.) Have the students share items of similar colors found on their hike. Texture Hike -- Discuss different textures (smooth, rough, silky, bumpy and so forth) and find examples of them in household items (sandpaper, waxed paper, cork board). On your walk, have students look for items that have similar textures. -- (CD)
Language Arts
Pattern poems: Read the picture book Echoes for the Eye by Barbara Juster Esbensen (HarperCollins, ISBN 0060243988) which contains thought-provoking poems about patterns in nature such as spirals, branches and circles. "In summer gardens sunflowers hold yellow faces to the sky. Count the whirling 55, the dizzy spinning 89, the rows and rows of old Italian arithmetic!" Students will look at everyday things like storms, leaves, and even their own ears, in a different way after reading these poems. Challenge students to find the patterns in other ordinary objects and write poems about them. -- (EK)
Sky stories: Cloud watching is a great way to look at shapes and patterns. Take your class outside on a partly cloudy day to lie in the yard and dream up stories told in the clouds. Afterwards, students can write a creative story or draw pictures of the scenes they observed. -- (CD)
Math
Number patterns: Assemble a group of natural objects such as flowers, sunflower seed heads, seashells, pine cones and fruit. (If possible, try to have at least one object for each student.) Tell the children to count whatever they can on the object: petals, sepals, bumps, leaves, seeds and so on, and to record their findings. Look for patterns in the numbers. In general, you'll find the numbers of the Fibonacci sequence: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, and so on (see Grades 4-6 Math, below). -- (EK)
Science
Protective patterns: Bring to class a dry leaf and a toad or a picture of a toad. Let the students see how the patterns on the toad and the leaf make it possible for the toad to "hide." Discuss camouflage and look for other examples of it in nature. Why is being able to hide important for the toad and others? -- (ST)
Investigating vortices: Pour 4 cm of milk into a shallow container such as a pie pan. Squirt a drop or two of food coloring into the milk and ask students if they see a pattern in the way the color spreads. Gently pull a toothpick through the color and observe what happens. What happens when you stir the liquid? Explain that when the toothpick is pulled through the food coloring, a vortex is created. Students may be able to create a parade of spirals, each vortex getting larger as it moves away from the stick. Vortices of many different sizes surround us, from the tiny ones created in this demonstration to giant vortices such as hurricanes, air-pressure systems and ocean currents. Follow up by reading more about fluid dynamics (a good resource is the "Fluid Dynamics" handout in the Ideas in Science series produced by the Boston's Children Museum and the American Association for the Advancement of Science). -- (EK)
Art/Dramatic Arts
Fabulous fractals: Take students outside to observe and draw a picture of a tree as it appears to them. Then introduce the idea of a fractal pattern, which can be observed in most trees. Each smaller limb echoes the growth of the larger one before it. In other words, no matter how closely you zoom in, you always see essentially the same thing. After students can "see" the fractals, allow them time to draw the tree again. How are their second drawings different from the first? -- (EK)
Seasonal flocking: Students begin by brainstorming actions or descriptive words which can be associated with each season (autumn-harvest, winter-whirl, etc.). In groups of four and numbered 1 to 4, the students select one season and use a creative movement technique called flocking to express one or more words related to that season. Students stand in a circle, all facing in the same direction, with students 2, 3 and 4 facing the back of student 1. Student 1 begins by interpreting a seasonal word in movement, while the others watch and reproduce it. With each ninety degree turn, three students face the back of another, who models the next movement. The length of each segment and the timing of each turn can be set by the group, teacher or the rhythm of a musical soundtrack. The rhythmic revolution helps students step inside a deep understanding of a cyclical pattern. -- (PD)
Math
Graphing population growth: Using the United Nations' latest estimate of population growth, create line graphs by hand and with computer to project the pattern of growth into the future. The choice of how to set the scales for the graph will be quite challenging. Analysis of the data can lead to discussion of how population growth is accelerating, and if there are limits to the rather alarming population totals that can be projected on the basis of the established pattern (see chart below). -- (PD)
| Year | World Population | Years to add one billion |
| 0 | 250,000,000 | From beginning |
| 1850 | 1,000,000,000 | n/a |
| 1930 | 2,000,000,000 | 80 |
| 1958 | 3,000,000,000 | 28 |
| 1974 | 4,000,000,000 | 16 |
| 1988 | 5,000,000,000 | 14 |
| 1999 | 6,000,000,000 | 11 |
| 2050 | 9 billion (est.) | n/a |
Fibonacci's sequence: Gather natural objects and have students count parts such as petals, sepals, leaves and seeds. Record the numbers on the board and challenge students to find a pattern. You'll probably find the numbers 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, and 13 with surprising regularity. These numbers are part of Fibonacci's sequence, a pattern in which each number is the sum of the two preceding it: 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21. Have students try to find as many things as possible that contain Fibonacci's sequence. Sunflowers are especially good for this: many have 21 spirals in one direction and 34 in the other. Scientists believe that this pattern allows "optimal packing" of the most seeds in the smallest space. -- (EK)
Science
Good groupings: Have students group natural objects by their characteristics and decide in which of several possible groups each object best fits. This is a good activity to introduce scientific classification and the use of identification keys. -- (CD)
Shifting shadows: Shadows change throughout the day and are sometimes tall and skinny and sometimes short and squatty. Pick an object on your school grounds, such as a flag pole or tree, and every hour during the day measure the length and the location of the shadow. What observations can be made by reviewing the results? -- (CD)
Tree biographies: Use a tree stump, logs or "tree cookies" (thinly cut pieces of a tree trunk) to find out the history of a tree. Count the rings and talk about why there are differences in their size and the distance between them. For a creative writing activity, have the students write the biography of the tree. -- (CD)
Social Studies
Patterns pattern us: The patterns of nature hold enormous sway over our everyday lives. Brainstorm some natural patterns or cycles (day and night, the seasons, population increases) and examine how they affect us. How would our world be different if these patterns changed? -- (EK)
Language Arts
Concrete poetry: Concrete poems are poems that are shaped like the object they describe. Find pictures of patterned objects such as seashells, leaves, trees and flowers, or bring in examples of these items that students can touch and feel. Talk about the different kinds of patterns students observe. After making lists of adjectives that could describe each item, have students create a poem in that object's shape. -- (EK)
Science
Snowflake slides: Snowflakes contain some of the most delicate, intricate patterns in nature. Those patterns can be preserved by making snowflake slides. Insert cut-to-size clear overhead transparencies into slide frames. During a snowstorm, spray the slides with clear acrylic paint. Hold each slide until it catches a few snowflakes and place it in a sheltered place outside until the paint has dried. This can take 4-12 hours depending on the temperature. Note that materials must be kept outside or in the freezer until you are ready to use them. This will keep the snowflakes from melting before the paint has captured their shape. -- (CD)
Crystal patterns: While all snowflakes have six sides, there are six main types of snow crystals: columns, plates, needles, columns capped with plates, dendrites, and stars. Have students examine snowflakes under a magnifying glass or microscope. Ask them to find as many different types of crystal as they can and to draw and categorize their finds. If you are not blessed with real snow, place pictures of the different types of crystals on index cards and have students categorize them on a chart. (Visit the website http://www.teelfamily.com/activities/ snow/ for pictures of crystals, activities, and links.) -- (EK)
Solar patterns: Measure the angle of the sun and chart the differences over a season. Explore how the rotation and tilt of the earth affect the angle of the sun. -- (CD)
Animal tracks: Have each student study the tracks of animals in your region. Students can practice their tracking skills by making potato prints and reproducing animals' stride on paper. Let the other students guess which tracks go with what animals. - - (CD)
Patterns of succession: Natural places that are disturbed in some way follow patterns of regrowth as plants and animals return to the area. For a short-term project, have students research and draw pictures of the succession patterns of various ecosystems. For a longer (but much neater!) project, set aside a small plot in your schoolyard and have students observe the pattern of succession year by year. The principle of succession is chronicled beautifully in Bay Shore Park: The Death and Life of an Amusement Park by Victoria Crenson. (W.H. Freeman and Co., ISBN 0716765802) The story begins with the 1947 closing of an amusement park and shows how each year the amusement park crumbles a little more as plants and animals make the place their own. -- (EK)
Social Studies
Patterns in time: Different cultures have developed different ways to chart the changing of the seasons. For instance, many societies measure time in lunar months. Thirteen Moons on Turtle's Back by Joseph Bruchac (Philomel Books, ISBN 0399221417) includes Native American stories from each lunar month of the year. Read the book and discuss the stories that Native American cultures associate with different times of the year. How could today's students divide the year? What patterns, natural or otherwise, govern their lives? What stories could they tell for each of their time periods? Have students develop their own calendar for the changing year and create stories to accompany it. -- (EK)