Observation sheets bomb; Bird poops everywhere

Well, those optimistically prepared Observation Sheets did not turn out exactly as we hoped. I may have anticipated a troop of field biologists, each bringing me a weighty notebook bursting with sketches of new species. In fact there were only two sheets filled out at all.
So, the Observation Sheets were a successful experiment.
Remember the case of my friend Mike. His team had finished six months of hard work on a massive new software release. They offered it to a separate group for a week-long testing session. After a week of pounding and pummelling, the testers could not find a single defect. Hmmm, grumbles Mike, that was a really bad week. All that time expended and we didn't find any defects?
The launch of Observation Sheets has, by contrast, been an excellent experiment.
When you have new data, and you want to know what it meant or what to do about it, one thing to do is create a LOT of explanations. Later you can throw out all the ones that don't work.
Let's see.
The level of returns was low because . . .

• Data recording is too advanced for 6- year olds
  
• You have to offer the exercise more than once, or otherwise publicize and encourage it
  
• Data recording misses the point, because it does not add to the child's experience. Asking for a written followup just adds overhead to what would otherwise be the pure excitement of learning and discovery
  
• Data recording must be taught by example. You need to be right there with (just one or three) children and a caterpillar (not in Science Circle), and say "heeey, here's how I would write a Caterpillar Observation Sheet. Do you want to try one while I try one?".
  
• [ your hypothesis here ]
  
• ..
  

There's also the story of the baseball scout who discovers a new pitcher on a college team. The pitcher throws a perfect game. Not only are there no runs, hits, or errors, but in fact he strikes out every batter. On three pitches. In fact, no batter even made contact with the ball except for a single foul ball in the seventh inning. The scout phones his boss in wild excitement. The response: "Forget about this pitcher. We already have pitchers. But for crying out loud get me the name of the fellow who hit the foul ball!"

Which brings me to the two Observation Sheets that did get filled in. There was not a word about caterpillars or snail eggs on them. They were instead filled with questions. Lots and lots of questions. Beautifully written. One sheet held as many questions about sharks as could possibly be crammed onto a page. And the "your sketch here" boxes were filled with shark pictures.
There's something good here. Let me take awhile to figure out what it is.

My Discovery To Share was a caterpillar that looks like Bird Poop. All our young scientists were able to explain immediately and enthusastically why looking like Bird Poop has positive survival benefit if you are a caterpillar. They went on to point out that, if you are such a caterpillar, and you move around too fast at the wrong moment, you have wrecked your disguise.
Here's the bird poop caterpillar happily chomping on my kumquat tree. Click on the photo to zoom in for a closer view.

Kid Science Humor: The day after this class, a handful of students saw me on the school yard and called me excitedly. "Come over here! We've found a caterpillar!". When I went over to see, they showed me . . a genuine bird poop. Guffaws were shared all around.