1. You are going to make a "sorting machine" on paper to organize (classify) your buttons. You may have seen a similar "machine" at a bank or a fair which separates coins poured into the top. This machine organizes coins by size.
     
2. You are going to draw a picture of your machine on the back of this worksheet. It will be a classification tree for buttons.
     
3. First you must make a list of the key characteristics for the buttons. Size might be one. List some other characteristics, but be specific. For example, buttons that are greater than 6 mm but less than or equal than 6 mm. Make sure you are realistic with your buttons. If you don't have any buttons that are less than 6 mm, you should not separate them. You need more than just size.
     
4. Your tree might look like this to start with.

Each time you separate a group of buttons they can be divided into two more groups based on one characteristic (such as "blue and not blue") for the third branch.

5. Continue branching until each button (or group of identical buttons) has its own box.
     
6. Your instructor will test your machine with one button to see if it can find its home box when dropped in the top of your machine.
     

CONCLUSIONS: Why is it important to organize information? Does classification help identify an object? How?