- Students should now have a list of "interesting items", as well as a list of characteristics for each of these items.
- Inform students that simply describing the items they have found is not sufficient for a truly diligent field researcher. Students must also find similarities and differences among items, and place these items into groups that reflect these comparisons.
- Have student groups gather and compare their lists of observations. For each type of observation they have created, have them create two or more categories in which to place each item. (The easiest two categories are simply "does exhibit a specific trait" and "does not exhibit a specific trait", although sometimes more degrees of meaning are necessary.)
- While student lists may vary greatly, the rules of classification are still the same for everyone. Students should try to group the objects into sensible categories based on important characteristics. Grouping all items that were dusty is not likely to be a meaningful category. However, grouping all items that are coins or grouping all items found in a box labeled "Grandma" may be.
- Once students have a category for their observations, have them create a hierarchy of categories. Are some categories more important? Are some redundant (can the information they reveal be shown using other existing classifications)? Are some not as useful as they first thought? See how few categories they can use, but still identify each item uniquely (so that no item has the same categories as any other item). This scientific classification may remind students of how living organisms are classified.
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