Science and Pineapples?

We have begun a project in science that is intended to help students develop a scientist's curiosity and openness to the new and the unexpected. Today, we began by looking at a common fruit -- the pineapple. Students read the Wallace Stevens poem, Someone Puts a Pineapple Together, and then worked to begin developing their own "Stevens" style poem about a common, everyday object. Over the next couple of days, we will share the poems, and then move on to an exploration that revolves around looking at an object "as if we had never seen it before." Someone Puts a Pineapple Together By Wallace Stevens 1. The hut stands by itself beneath the palms. 2. Out of their bottle the green genii come. 3. A vine has climbed the other side of the wall. 4. The sea is spouting upward out of rocks. 5. The symbol of feasts and of oblivion. 6. White sky, pink, sun, trees on a distant peak. 7. The lozenges are nailed-up lattices. 8. The owl sits humped. It has a hundred eyes. 9. The cocoanut and cockerel in one. 10. This is how yesterday’s volcano looks. 11. There is an island Palahude by name – 12. An uncivil shape like a gigantic haw.* *haw = a spring flowering shrub