Butterfly Controversy
Quandry Cultivates Critical Thinkers

Author: Eve Pranis

Raising butterflies raised issues and dilemmas -- and prompted a valuable learning experience -- for fourth and fifth grade students at Mary Snow School in Bangor, ME.

"Intrigued by an idea from parent volunteers, teachers and students decided to create a pollinator garden that would beautify the school and bring alive science studies of birds, bees, and butterflies, and their partnerships with plants," reports teacher Linda Hunter. With donations from the PTO and community, and a National Gardening Association Youth Garden Grant, the garden and the students' engagement with it took root.

"As part of our pollinator investigations, students had raised butterflies from larvae we obtained through several sources, including the Monarch Watch project at the University of Kansas," says Linda. But her students were surprised to discover through their Internet research that the North American Butterfly Association (NABA) strongly opposes raising and releasing butterflies, particularly if they are not native to an area. "To grapple with the mixed messages they'd gotten, students decided to write letters to both organizations, explaining their concerns and asking whether there was a way to responsibly raise and release butterflies," says Linda. The organizations' responses pushed her students' thinking and decision-making process. Monarch Watch replied that they would only ship butterfly larvae to states in which a species was native. The NABA, on the other hand, cautioned that the only way to responsibly raise and release butterflies was to gather eggs found on local plants.

"I'd never seen such a lively schoolwide discussion and debate," says Linda. Most students wanted to continue raising butterflies, but to raise fewer and to be careful about the sources they used. They also agreed to try to discover the origins of any live creatures they considered bringing in, and any related controversies. "This experience really drove home to kids that everything they read isn't necessarily true and that there are many sides to an issue," explains Linda. "They've been much more likely since then to question what they read, and to gather more information, or investigate for themselves, when necessary," she adds.

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