"One of these things is not like the other one..."
One of these is NOT an insect! Can you pick out which of the pictures above doesn't belong?
When I first started teaching with insects it was simply to allow the students to view another organism up close in it's natural habitat. Patterson Park (in Baltimore) had a variety of plants and depending on the time of day we would investigate, would use nets and plastic beakers to capture the specimens. Before releasing them, we would use the dissecting scopes to get a closer look of their anatomy. In particular, looking to their adaptations and their abilities to succeed in a given environment.
As time went on, there seemed to be more that could be done to make the learning of insects into a better interdisciplinary topic. That's when I incorporated the learning of insects as the bridge between physics (wave studies) and ecology (adaptations and environment). Studying waves through a sensory approach, sound as longitudinal and light as transverse/electromagnetic waves, we performed a more in depth study of the insect's anatomy and compared/contrasted the information with the human ability to perceive waves. This led us to creating habitats and generating environmental information for a set of ladybugs and eventually forming a partnership with a second grade class studying the life cycle of an insect. This partnership with the aid of Ms. V. Sosa and Ms. A. Hendrick, was presented at the 2012 National Science Teacher Association convention in Indianapolis, IN. See the Prezi Presentation.
Below are a few examples of the presentations students designed using Glogster. These, in addition to their habitat journals and other sources of information (see power point below) were used as a summary assessment to the insect unit.
As time went on, there seemed to be more that could be done to make the learning of insects into a better interdisciplinary topic. That's when I incorporated the learning of insects as the bridge between physics (wave studies) and ecology (adaptations and environment). Studying waves through a sensory approach, sound as longitudinal and light as transverse/electromagnetic waves, we performed a more in depth study of the insect's anatomy and compared/contrasted the information with the human ability to perceive waves. This led us to creating habitats and generating environmental information for a set of ladybugs and eventually forming a partnership with a second grade class studying the life cycle of an insect. This partnership with the aid of Ms. V. Sosa and Ms. A. Hendrick, was presented at the 2012 National Science Teacher Association convention in Indianapolis, IN. See the Prezi Presentation.
Below are a few examples of the presentations students designed using Glogster. These, in addition to their habitat journals and other sources of information (see power point below) were used as a summary assessment to the insect unit.