Urban Naturalists at Roger Williams Middle School: The Power of Observation!

Today, the Urban Naturalists talked about the Power of Observation as well as tested their skills in Scientific Illustration!

Mystery Object: What is This Object?

To start, we checked out a very cool "Mystery Object". The Urban Naturalists used their senses to make some observations about this object. We then compiled a list of observations and inferences about the object.

Photo Credit: http://bugguide.net/node/view/530391

Check out our first Mystery Object. Can you guess what it is?

Here is our compiled list of observations:

Looks like a nut
Has a hollow shell
Looks like a small potato
Object is soft and rough
Looks dead
Looks dried up
Fits on top of finger
It's an object!
Could have fallen from a tree
Plant-like
Brussel sprout like
Isn't grown up all the way
Has small holes on it
Looks like it came from the ground
Smells bad
Has spots

Mystery Object: The Conclusion

Our Mystery Object is called a Gall. A gall is an abnormal outgrowth of plant tissue due to an irritation from an insect, mite or fungus. This gall that we observed is called an Oak Apple Gall. This gall is created when an Oak Apple Gall Wasp inserts an egg in the center vein of the leaf. This irritates the leaf, which then swells in the spot the egg is in. As the insect grows inside, the gall grows too! Finally, when the insect is grown enough to come out of the gall, it will drill a little hole along the outside and crawl out.

One Urban Naturalist observing the gall

To learn more about Oak Apple Galls, click here to be directed to a Fairfax County Public School's website about them!

Scientific Illustration

The Urban Naturalists then practiced the skill of Scientific Illustration! We learned that you do NOT need to be a good artists to be a good scientific illustrator. It's all about the labels! We practiced scientific illustration with some items from nature before heading outside to try our hand at observing and sketching critters we could find!

One Urban Naturalists illustrations of
a gall and a Red Tailed Hawk Feather

An Urban Naturalists illustration of a
Barred Owl feather. They even added some color!

One student's scientific illustration of a nut he found!

Outdoor Exploration

Finally, we took a hike around the schoolyard to see what specimens we could find! The Urban Naturalists collected many invertebrates as well as a variety of plant and fungus material. Check out some of our finds!