PHOTOGRAPH BY ELLEN SENISI

An attention-grabbing
product from the Harry Potter series
Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beansis a fun tool
for teaching students about classification. By David T. Crowther
18 Science and Children
W ant to teach classification in an engaging,
fun-filled way that capitalizes on the Harry
Potter craze and models good science in-
struction by following the 5E learning cycle

(Bybee and Landes 1990)? Sound impossible? Its not!

Once a characteristic is recog-
nized in the key, a person follows
the other physical characteristics
until it has been isolated and

identified on the key. New organ- Keyword: Classification

at www.scilinks.org
In this lesson, students use Bertie Botts Every Fla- isms are not found on an existing Enter code: SC100301
vor Beansa wild candy written about in the Harry key; therefore, the key must be

Potter books and now available in stores to learn adapted in order to accommodate the new organism.
about classification and dichotomous keys. In these The following exercises aim to introduce students to
activities, students sort jelly beans according to a key the classification system in a fun way.
and then construct a key for a new flavor of beans.
Students then build on their knowledge by classifying Engagement
buttons and constructing their own dichotomous key. Creating Interest
The lesson follows the 5E learning cycle, in which The 5E learning cycle begins with Engagement, which
lessons are constructed to address various phases En- accesses students background knowledge and gener-
gage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, and Evaluate. Although ates interest in the topic. To pique student interest in the
I used Bertie Botts beans because of Harry Potters enor- upcoming activities, I like to begin by reading a
mous popularity with both students and adults, a variety childrens literature book on sorting. Two books that
pack of any type ofgourmet jelly beans will workfor these accomplish this task quite well are: The Button Box by
classification activities, provided there are variations Margarette S. Reid and Sorting by Henry Pluckrose.
among the beans (i.e., some jelly beans have spots and After reading one or both of these books, we have a brief
some are solid) and that you make your own key. discussion on how we sort things.
Always consider student allergies when bringing Next, we conduct a short (about 10 minutes) intro-
any food item into the classroom. ductory activity: Select six students with distinctive
Most recently, I conducted the lesson with a group of characteristics (e.g., two with blonde hair, two with
university education majors, however, Ive also used the brown hair, and two with black hair) and have them stand
lesson successfully with students of all ages. Students in in the front of the classroom. Have students organize the
upper grades can do the activity to learn more specifically children into three groups and discuss the characteristics
about classification and dichoto- mous keys, but students by which they classified their class- mates. When
in kindergarten through the primary grades can also learn dividing the group of volunteers, be sure to model
to sort jelly beans based upon their physical dichotomy language.
characteristics to develop a foun- dation of understanding For example, I might say, The classification character-
of classification upon which to build in later years. istic is brown hair, so we have a group of students that
possesses the characteristic of brown hair and we have a
About Dichotomous Keys group of students that does not possess the characteristic of
In classifying both living and nonliving things, scien- tists brown hair. Students always enjoy this activity and soon
have tried to provide an order to life so that we can better begin using classification terminology and looking for
understand the world in which we live. All living unique characteristics among their classmates to classify.
organisms are organized (classified) according to ge-
netic relationships. Currently the classification system Exploration
contains eight levels: Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Hands-On Inquiry
Order, Family, Genus, and Species. Once students interest has been tapped,
Shared patterns and physical characteristics among the Exploration phase beginsthis is the
related organisms can be organized and denoted in a point at which students delve deeper
classification tool called a dichotomous key. The key into the topic with a hands-on, heads-on
used to identify organismsis based on the premise an inquiry-based activity. I usually begin
organism either possesses an observed physical charac- this phase by reading a passage from
teristic or does not possess the characteristic. For ex- Harry Potter and the Sorcerers
ample, when attempting to identify a flowering plant with Stone(Rowling 1998)when
a key, you might see: Harry is on the Hogwarts Express and has
purchased some treats from the cart:
1A Petals red go to 4
1B Petals orange go to 5 He [Harry] finally tore hiseyes away
from the druidess Cliodna, who was
October 2003 19
 Figure 1.
Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans dichotomous key.
1a. Bean is green go to line 2 11a. Bean is dark brown Dirt
1b. Bean is NOT green go to line 6 11b. Bean is light brown with
dark brown spots Toasted Marshmallow
2a. Bean is light white/cream green
w/brown spots Booger 12a. Bean is yellow/cream
2b. Bean is NOT light white/ and may or may not have spots go to 13
cream green w/brown spots go to 3 12b. Bean is NOT yellow/cream go to 16

3a. Bean is lime green without spots go to 4 13a. Bean is cream with yellow spots Buttered Popcorn
3b. Bean is lime green or darker 13b. Bean is NOT cream with yellow spots go to 14
and may have spots or not go to 5
14a. Bean is brownish yellow cream Ear Wax
4a. Bean is light lime green Grass 14b. Bean is NOT brownish yellow cream go to 15
4b. Bean is medium lime green Green Apple
15a. Bean is bright yellow Lemon Drop
5a. Bean is dark green w/red swirls Watermelon 15b. Bean is yellow with brown spots Banana
5b. Bean is lime green w/spots Spinach
16a. Bean is pink with or w/out spots go to 17
6a. Bean is gray Black Pepper 16b. Bean is NOT pink go to 18
6b. Bean is NOT gray go to 7
17a. Bean is light pink Bubble Gum
7a. Bean is dark white Sardine 17b. Bean is pink w/spots Tutti-Fruitti
7b. Bean is NOT dark white go to 8
18a. Bean is orange w/spots Vomit
8a. Bean is blue Blueberry 18b. Bean is NOT orange w/spots go to 19
8b. Bean is NOT blue go to 9
19a. Bean is red w/spots Cinnamon
9a. Bean is dark purple Grape Jelly 19b. Bean is plain red Cherry
9b. Bean is NOT dark purple go to 10
** Note: Watch for new species!!
10a. Bean is brown or light brown
and may have spots go to 11 To download this key, click on this article at
10b. Bean is NOT brown go to 12 www.nsta.org/elementary school.

20 Science and Children

scratching her nose, to open a bag of Bertie Botts
Every Flavor Beans.
You want to be careful with those, Ron warned
Harry. W hen they say every flavor, they mean
every flavor you know, you get all the ordinary
ones like chocolate and peppermint and marmalade,
but then you can get spinach and liver and tripe.
George reckons he had a booger-fla- vored one
once.
Ron picked up a green bean, looked at it carefully,
and bit into a corner. Blearghsee? Sprouts.
They had a good time eating the Every Flavor
Beans. Harry got toast, coconut, baked bean,
 strawberry, curry, grass, coffee, sardine, and was
even brave enough to nibble the end off a funny gray
one Ron wouldnt touch, which turned out to be
pepper. (pp. 103104)

The passage always grabs students. Theyre eager to

find out what were going to do with the beans, so we
begin the activity right away. For this activity, each
group of three students will need:

A small (3 oz) cup filled with about

10 Bertie Botts Every Flavor Beans
(1 / 2 pound total for a class of 30
 students) and one jelly bean not found on the Bertie firmed. T his phase is accom-
Botts key. (I try to make sure that every group gets plished best through teacher- guided
a nice selection of disgusting flavors and normal questions.
flavors from the box.); For example, in this case, after
A copy of the Bertie Botts dichotomous key ( Fig- sorting beans and making modifica-
ure 1). A classification key that uses regular- tions to the key to fit the new jelly
flavored Jelly Belly gourmet jelly beans (Figure 2, bean, we discuss the following ques-
page 22) is also availableor you can make your tions. In this way, I assess students
own key to any brand jelly bean; and understanding of classification and how to use a di-
A sheet of paper and a pencil. chotomous key.

I usually model how to use the dichotomous key once What did you use to determine what flavor of bean
using a single Bertie Botts bean and have students you had? (A physical characteristic, i.e., the beans
follow along. I like to use the dark-white colored bean as color.)
the example. I have a student taste it and they quickly What did you do to determine if you were correct?
respond to the fishy flavor. This usually gets a good (Taste the bean.)
reaction with the class. What other things do we classify? (Plants, animals,
I then state, It sure would be nice to know what fungi, and bacteria. In the nonliving world, we clas-
flavor it was going to be before we taste the candy! Lets sify rocks, minerals, and landforms.)
try to identify the nasty flavor of this bean. We then go Why would we want to classify things? (Humans
through the key and identify the dark white bean as classify all thingsliving and nonlivingin order to
salmon. The class catches on right away and immedi- understand about our world, and new species are still
ately the orange beans with spots are discarded, they are being found today!)
vomit flavored!
Students continue to identify the beans in their cup The last question gets students talking about classifica-
using the dichotomous key. A good exploration of clas- tion. At this point, if working with younger students I
sifying and taste-testing beans takes 10 to 15 minutes. usually introduce the taxonomic system generally, by
Be sure to circulate the room and question kids on how discussing that living things are grouped together by
the taste compares to the key identification. Once shared characteristics.
students are almost finished, they inevitably realize one If, however, Im working with older students or
jelly bean (the new species) is not on the key. I ask preservice teachers, the discussion is more in depth,
them to follow the format of the key and construct an covering the taxonomic system originated by Carolus
addition so that the new species fits within the con- Linnaeus. With older students, we usually go through one
struct of the dichotomous key. or two organisms classification, such as shown in the
This is quite easy for most upper-grade students, as example below.
they are able to follow the pattern of the dichoto- mous
key and find the right place for the new flavor. Domain: Eukarya
Sometimes, students get a little confused trying to Kingdom: Animal
renumber the key, but I emphasize to students that the Phylum: Chordata
beans description is more important than the numbering. Class: Aves
Order: Passeriformes
Explanation Family: Embaridae
Making Connections Genus: Sternella
After the bean activity comes the Explanation phase, Species: neglecta
when the content of the lesson is conveyed and reaf-
Common name: Meadow Lark

Reading the Harry Potter passage always grabs

students attention. Theyre eager to find out what
were going to do with the beans.

October 2003 21
 Figure 2.
Jelly Belly jelly bean classification key.
The bean is
1a. yellow, orange, red, or pink go to line 2 17a. purple go to line 18
1b. blue, purple, or green, go to line 16 17b. blue go to line 19
1c. black or brown go to line 24 18a. purple or lavender Island Punch
2a. yellow or orange go to line 3 18b. dark or blackish purple Grape Jelly
2b. pink or red go to line 11 18c. purple with spots Plum

3a. yellow go to line 4 19a. bright blue Berry Blue

3b. orange go to line 7 19b. dark blue Blueberry

4a. solid yellow go to line 5 20a. solid green go to line 21

4b. yellow w/ brown spots Top Banana 20b. green w/ spots go to line 22
4c. yellow w/ white or yellow spots Lemon Drop 21a. dark green Jalapeno
4d. white w/ yellow spots Buttered Popcorn 21b. light or pale green go to line 23
4e. yellow w/ green spots Mango
22a. dark green w/ red spots Watermelon
5a. dark yellow Lemon 22b. pale green w/ dark spots Juicy Pear
5b. bright or pale yellow go to line 6 22c. light green w/ green spots Margarita
6a. bright yellow Pina Colada 23a. bright green Green Apple
6b. pale yellow Crushed Pineapple 23b. light green Kiwi
7a. solid orange go to line 8 23c. yellow green Lemon Lime
7b. orange with red spots Peach 24a. black go to line 25
8a. bright orange go to line 9 24b. brown go to line 26
8b. light or pale orange go to line 10 25a. black Licorice
9a. orange, orange Orange Juice 25b. dull purple black Wild Blackberry
9b. creamy orange Orange Sherbet 25c. shiny purple black Dr. Pepper

10a. light orange Cantaloupe 26a. brown go to line 27

10b. pale orange Tangerine 26b. light brown go to line 28
26c. dark brown w/ spots Cappuccino
11a. pink go to line 12
11b. red go to line 13 27a. brown A&W Root Beer
27b. dark brown Chocolate Pudding
12a. bright pink Cotton Candy
12b. light pink Bubble Gum 28a. light brown Caramel Apple
12c. pale orange pink Pink Grapefruit 28b. light orange-brown Peanut Butter
12d. pink w/ red spots Strawberry Daiquiri 28c. pale brownish-white Caf Latte

13a. solid red go to line 14

13b. red w/ light spots Sizzling Cinnamon ** Note: Watch for new species!
13c. red w/ dark spots Strawberry Jam
To download this key, click on this article at www.nsta.
14a. bright red Very Cherry org/elementaryschool.
14b. red Red Apple
14c. dark red go to line 15 The jelly beans in this key were selected from Jelly
15a. deep red Raspberry Bellys official flavors for 2003. The classification les-
15b. cinnamon red Cinnamon son based on jelly beans was created by myself and a
colleague, Kathleen Jacobitz, at the University of Ne-
16a. blue or purple go to line 17 braskaLincoln, and adapted from an idea presented by
16b. green go to line 20 Karen Reynolds at San Jose State University.
22 Science and Children
 Finally, with both older and younger students, we dis- begin the process. Then have them subgroup and continue
cuss that the classification system changes as advances in to construct the key using the Bertie Botts key as a guide.
technology allow scientists to make new discoveries about Bring the activity to a close by having the different groups
the genetic relationships between organisms. share the characteristics they used for classification.

Elaboration Evaluation
Extending Content Learning Assessing Understandings
The next phase of the learning cycle allows for both The final phase, Evaluation, is conducted throughout the
practice and application to a new context. The Elabora- classification lesson and activities. Formative as-
tion phaseusually another hands-on, heads-on in- quiry sessment occurs as I monitor, question, and observe that
activityallows for content to be extended or explored in children un derstand classification. As a summative
a different setting. assessment, I have students construct their own
During this activity (about 3045 minutes) students dichotomous key following the button clas- sification
practice their classifying skills using buttons. Each group activity.
of three students will need: After students make their dichotomous keys, have
them switch keys and buttons to see if they can
6 different buttons in a sealable plastic bag (about properly key out the buttons using another groups
100 buttons total for a class of 30); and dichotomous key. Basically, if the key works and the
lined paper or a science journal and a pencil to students have used a dichotomy for division, the key
construct a dichotomous key. is correct.
Classification is something that children naturally do.
Give each group a bag of six assorted buttons. Have the They sort their socks, arrange their pencil boxes, and, on
students sort the buttons into three groups. occasion, even clean their rooms. As children develop
Have the groups use the six buttons to construct a their process skills they eventually begin to sort things
dichotomous key, using a large characteristic (e.g., four using more sophisticated criteria, such as physi- cal
holes in button, two holes in button, or shank) to characteristics. This activity is fun way for students to
practice the art of classification and learn about the
construction of dichotomous keys.
Connecting to the Standards
This article relates to the following National Science David T. Crowther (crowther@unr.edu) is associ- ate
Education Standards (NRC 1996): professor of science education at the University of
Nevada, Reno.
Content Standards
Grades K12 Resources
Unifying Concepts and Processes Bybee, R., and N.M. Landes. 1990. Science for life and living:
As a result of activities in grades K12, all students An elementary school science program from biological
should develop understanding and abilities aligned sciences curriculum study. The American Biology Teacher
with the following concepts and processes: 52(2): 9298.
Systems, order, and organization National Research Council (NRC). 1996. National Science
Evidence, models, and explanation Education Standards. Washington, D.C.: National Acad-
Constancy, change, and measurement emy Press.
Evolution and equilibrium Pluckrose, H. 1995. Sorting. San Francisco: Childrens Book
Form and function Press.
Reid, M.S. 1995. The Button Box. New York: Penguin
Grades K4 Putnam.
Standard A: Science as Inquiry Rowling, J.K. 1998. Harry Potter and the Sorcerers Stone.
Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry New York: Scholastic.
Understandings about scientific inquiry
Internet
Grades 58 Jelly Bean Sources
Standard A: Science as Inquiry www.jellybelly.com
Abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry www.bulkcandystore.com
www.justborn.com/ products / tb.html
Understandings about scientific inquiry
October 2003 23