Middle School Moments

The first two weeks of Underground have been awesome!

Opal band spent the bulk of our first two weeks learning all about ants -- we watched video and read articles about ant behavior and characteristics as we launch into an exploration of biology through observation and research. 

First, the kids made aspirators out of small jars. These tools allowed us to collect tiny ants without touching them. With a filter on one side, students could inhale and trap ants in the aspirator jar. After that, we cut foam cores, surrounded them by dirt, and put the ants into larger mason jars to observe. Since these local black garden ants are so tiny, their tunnels were still hard to see, which led us to our next iteration and a new species of ant: the harvester ant.

We spent the last two days constructing frames sandwiched between plexiglass to house the harvester ants that came earlier in the week. Our new ants are busily digging tunnels already!

In the coming weeks, we will observe the ants and design experiments around our observations: What do they like to eat? What colors can they see? Where do they bury their dead? How do we encourage them to use the connections between our formicaria? What materials can help them traverse slippery tubes?  We also hope to research and present on specific ant species and ultimately make a labeled ant models we can display at school.

The second thread we've been following is a more figurative interpretation of "underground" through looking at pre-Civil War US history via the Underground Railroad. Using some resources from the Zinn Education Project, students shared and discussed accounts from formerly enslaved people, used those accounts to create a collective poem celebrating the ways in which enslaved people resisted the institution of slavery, and reflected on a reading clarifying what was going on nationally at the time. We will be continuing these explorations throughout the arc. In our next lesson, students will be looking at the lives of various abolitionists and learning from their stories.

Finally, students have been engaging with studios in addition to their explorations projects. I can't speak for everyone's experience, but the Opal kids seem to be thriving in environments where their passions can truly shine!

~Phillip, Collaborator with Opal Band.