By DANI BARKEY
Chief Accountability Officer, Warsaw Community Schools

Leslie Tharp’s sixth-grade class at Jefferson Elementary investigated a mystery object by making observations and asking questions. After they discussed their observations and wondering in small groups, their objects were cut open to determine if anything was on the inside. Within one of their mystery objects was an insect.

Next, they found out that the mystery object was known as a gall, which is a growth on a plant, caused by insects, mites, bacteria, or fungi.

Finally, they used a dichotomous key, a tool that allows the user to determine the identity of items in the natural world, to discern what type of gall they were investigating.

This inquiry-based, STEM activity introduced them to the next focus of science: types of symbiosis!