FLOWER COLOR
FREQUENCY
mid-March & on
Each student
makes columns (or rows) labeled white, red, pink, orange, yellow, blue/purple,
and "other."
He tallies*
each flower species he finds in the appropriate column.
You will discover a lot of judgment goes
into this apparently simple operation.
Each student will have his own answer to
the question of which is the most common flower color,
but it will be
interesting to ask, "How many students found white the most common
color?" "Yellow?" etc.
You will find great variation, and you can discuss the sources of this
variation as much as you want.
It all
relates to how to make careful observations.
I have no "correct" answer for
this exercise. The actual results will
differ depending on the season.
In
fact, pollination biologists study this question. Certain insect groups tend to favor certain flower
colors and
tend to fly at certain times of year.
This creates general patterns in the seasonal appearance of different
color flowers.
*TALLYING. The procedure of tallying usually needs
demonstrating.
By "tally" I
mean count things by making lines in groups of five:
four vertical lines
crossed by a diagonal fifth.
These are
easily counted to get a total number.
Tallying is surely a very basic tool for gathering data of any sort.