What would be the best way to teach the third graders about plants, more specifically edible plants, without having the slightest idea of their science curriculum? Honestly, I don't know. I have forgotten about what I learnt during my third grade. Over the years, whatever I got to know about plants, I cannot pinpoint one single event that may have taught me that vast subject. It came to me in bits and pieces, through trials and errors, mostly while assisting my mother in the kitchen, or grandpa in the backyard. Add to this fact, the level of exposure that an 8year old has today, is beyond what we ever imagined for ourselves at that age. Who knows while I am busy talking about seeds and stems, these third graders might be busy making genetic mutation formulas in the back bench!
My worry began with an invitation from my daughter's class teacher who wanted me to share my knowledge about edible plants with the class. I prepared some notes, crossed my fingers and went ahead to face the eager innocent looks full of questions and ideas.
The obvious difference between 'edible plants' and 'plants with edible parts' is sometimes lost in generalization. The kids have been taught that all plants are edible, which is surely not a true statement in a technical sense. Yes, some plants are edible like most herbs and all green leafy vegetables like spinach, lettuce etc., but there are others of which only certain parts are consumed, rest are not. For example, we eat the tomatoes not its leaves. Either the seed (sunflower seeds, pepper corn, nuts etc), or root (potatoes, carrots, radishes etc), or stems (celery, rhubarb etc), or leaves (all kinds of greens), or flowers (cauliflower, broccoli etc) or fruits (eggplants, okra and, rest of the vegetables) are consumed.
I decided to keep this topic as my introductory lecture. Hoping to cover all this in 15 minutes was a big mistake on my part. I had underestimated their ability to jump from one topic to a totally different but vaguely related topic. It happened each time I thought I nailed it. Towards the turn of the hour I encountered my last hurdle. If black pepper comes from plant then does salt come from plants too? The answer was a definite 'No'. I did not foresee the next volley of questions though. What is the salt? Isn't it sodium? Do they sell sodium at grocery stores? If sodium is not salt then what is a compound? What is a chemical composition? Why is Sodium written as 'Na' why not 'So'? Does sugar has chemical composition too? What is it written as 'Nu' or ‘Su’? On and on it went till I could wriggle out of it with a promise of a full research result on salt for the next time and few more sessions dedicating to each group of edible parts of the plant for next few weeks.
So the next time I go, I’ll be prepared with loads of seeds, their categories and their various kinds. May be an experiment too of planting a seed and letting it grow so that sprouting is seen and life cycle of a plant is understood.
Since I was not prepared for an experiment for the first lecture, there were some groans and sad faces. But at that moment, the brilliant mind of mine kicked in and out came an experiment to be done at home. Taste a teaspoon each of salt and sugar and write down the findings about what they taste like, their texture and after effects. Observations on these two pantry components by the students would help me explain about salt during next session unless of course before that their respective moms send a note of complain to the school for school being responsible for messing up their kitchens and gagging their kids!!
I am finding it interesting to be with so many kids and teaching them something new. Never knew I had that patience. Their point of view and outlook towards things around us is unique and innocent. Wish I could capture it all and safe keep it for during my old age. For now, I’ll simply try to keep an update about these once a week lecture. Till next week…..
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