Next, each child took on the role of an expert (meteorologist, botanist, zoologist, geologist, economist, historian, geographer, anthropologist) to investigate a Mystery Trunk filled with objects from a mystery place.
For each object, we asked, “What is it? What is it used for? Which experts would be interested in this object? What does it tell us about the mystery place?”
The contents included a Monarch butterfly, a branch from a cotton plant, rice, salt, sugar, a piñata, a Lightening Whelk, six different flags, a piece of barbed wire, water from the Gulf of Mexico, sand, flint, sulfur, granite, watermelon seeds, corn seeds, bluebonnet seeds, a space shuttle model, a hurricane tracking chart, a vial of oil, and more. Many of the objects overlapped more than one category. Both student geologists and economists were interested in the sulfur and the salt. Botanists and economists were interested in rice, cotton, and pecans. Economists and zoologists found the photograph of the longhorn interesting.
Can you guess the mystery place?
If you're in town, you can check out an exhibit featuring this mystery place! Visit the Houston Museum of Natural Science to learn more!
There's a Book for That!
The Armadillo from Amarillo by Lynne Cherry
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