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Insect Safari
Author: Sarah Pounders
 Students discover a monarch chrysalis on their insect safari.
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Overview
Gardens usually have more insect inhabitants than plants! In this
lesson, students sharpen their observation skills by going on an insect
safari to learn more about these fascinating
garden residents.
Objective: to compare preconceptions about insects
to information gleaned through direct observation; to understand that
as a whole insects are more
helpful than harmful to the garden; to stimulate curiosity and a desire
to study insects further.
Standards (Microsoft
Word document)
Materials:
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Paper
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Pencils
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Clipboards, or cardboard pieces and clothespins
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Insect field guides or Web sites (see links below)
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Optional: hand lenses, insect nets
Background
Insects are members of the animal kingdom. Despite coming in vastly
different shapes, sizes, and behaviors, they're grouped together
because they have common body structures: three
body
regions (head, thorax and abdomen), an exoskeleton, six legs, compound
eyes,
and
antennae.
Most
also have
wings. For more background information on insects and their habits,
here are some helpful resources:
Using Live Insects in Elementary Classrooms
Pollinators and Decomposers: The
Garden Do-Gooders
Insect predators: Pest
Patrol - Insect Predators and Parasites
Laying the Groundwork
1. Ask students to share their thoughts about insects.
As individuals or a class, write descriptions of insects, create
word webs, and/or
draw insects using their current conceptions. Ask questions that
prompt students to reflect in greater detail. For instance, if they
mention that insects have legs, ask how many and
where to the body
they're
attached.
2. Have them brainstorm and list of what they
know about how insects interact with plants. You can revisit the
list after they've observed and noted insect behavior in the garden.
Exploration
3. The day before your expedition, announce to
students that they will be going on an insect safari in the schoolyard.
Suggest that
they
come to school wearing comfortable clothing and shoes, and perhaps
even a safari hat!
4. Before students head out, explain that their job is to observe,
draw, and gather information about garden insects. They can work
as individuals or in teams.
To adapt the activity for younger students,
provide flash cards of specific groups of insects (e.g., butterflies
and beetles) for them to search for. With older students, consider
providing equipment for more intense study, such as hand lenses
or collecting nets.
5. Remind students that many insects carry on
their lives out of sight, so they’ll need to look in the soil, on
the undersides
of plant leaves,
on flowers, and in the air.
Encourage them to include as much detail
as possible in their drawings and written descriptions.
Have them
note the superlatives: the largest, smallest, most colorful,
best camouflaged, fastest, and most interesting insects.
Making Connections
1. After you return
to the class, talk about the insects
observed and their characteristics. Refer back to the students' reflections
before the safari. Did they find any differences between their original ideas
about insects and what they observed first hand? What preconceptions
were accurate and which were false? What new things did they learn about
insects?
2. Next, challenge them to group the insects based on similarities
and differences. Follow up by having students research how scientists classify
insects, then
compare those categories with their own. Insects are grouped into orders
according to physical characteristics and life cycles. Beetles, for instance,
are in
the order Coleoptera, the members of which
are distinguished from other insects by their hardened outer wings (elytra)
that form two halves when folded, a pair of flight wings that fold underneath
the elytra, chewing mouthparts, and complete (four-stage) metamorphosis.
For kid-friendly descriptions of the 32 orders of insects, visit The
Wonderful World of Insects.
3. Finally, have students use field guides or Internet
sites to try and more closely identify the insects observed. Tell them not
to worry if they
don’t
worry if they don’t find exact matches – the point is to emphasize how many
hundreds – perhaps thousands – of insect species may live in your schoolyard,
and rather than being harmful, the vast majority of species help it
thrive.
Online Field Guide:
E-Nature Insects and Spiders Field Guide
Branching
Out
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Use the information collected during the safari
and the follow-up research to create an insect guide for your schoolyard
to share with other classes. Point out which insects are garden pests
and which are beneficial.
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Ask students to consider if there might be beneficial
aspects to the insects we consider garden pests. They aren't in
the garden
just to thwart our goals. What is their purpose in the web of life? For
an interesting spin on plant-eating pests, read Weed
Busters.
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Invite a local entomologist to speak to your class.
Ask him/her to bring an insect collection to show to students.
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Middle school and high school students may be interested
in starting an insect collection. Check out Texas
A&M's BugHunter
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Incorporate books about insects into your lesson plans. See
Linking
Literacy and Garden Creatures for ideas.
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Have you noticed
a problem with pests in the garden, but don’t notice
any beneficial insects preying on them? Identify the pests,
then find out if there are beneficial species you can
purchase and release that will help control them.
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Incorporate plants known to attract beneficial insects
in your garden designs. They are frequently attracted to plants
in the cabbage, carrot, mint, and sunflower families. Specific
examples bee balm, borage, broccoli, buckwheat, calendula, candy
tuft, chervil,
chives, cilantro, clover, daisy, dill, fennel,
goldenrod, mint, parsley, Queen Anne's Lace, sunflower, sweet alyssum,
tansy,
thyme,
and yarrow.
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© 2009
National Gardening Association