Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Harry Potter and the Dichotomous Key!

Today's activity is inspired by a scene from the first novel chronicling the adventures of Harry Potter and his friends.  Here is a scene from the first movie, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone:



Students are introduced to the idea of a dichotomous key by using it to sort Bertie Bott's Every Flavor Beans.  This is the accelerated content standard from our rocks and minerals unit.

In your own words, what is a dichotmous key?  What is it used for?

How can you apply what you learned in this activity to sort rocks?  Try writing a set of options, or a dichotomy, to VISIBLY sort rocks.

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