Insects, Part 1: What Does Your Insect Need to Live? Now that we have been investigating insects, I d like you to choose one to describe in more detail. You will draw your insect and show what your insect needs to live. I ll come around and write your words next to your pictures while you work. Then we will share them with the class. 1 of 12
Suggested Grade Span K 2 Task Now that we have been investigating insects, I d like you to choose one to describe in more detail. You will draw your insect and show what your insect needs to live. I ll come around and write your words next to your pictures while you work. Then we will share them with the class. Big Ideas and Unifying Concepts Form and function Interdependence Systems Life Science Concepts Regulation and behavior Structure and function Mathematics Concept Diagrams Time Required for the Task One 30-minute session after several introductory activities earlier in the week. Context We started this unit of study with a class brainstorm to find out what prior knowledge students had about insects. Student responses were recorded by the teacher, using the computer, so that we could print out our ideas and post them. This makes it possible to go back to our early ideas from time to time to see if we have learned new information that will change what we believe about insects and how they live. (Our class brainstorm list is included with the rubric and benchmarks at the end of the task.) Following this discussion, we spent time reading about and observing different insects. (Many students brought some in from home and we collected some from outside to study.) This activity, What does your insect need to live? followed after several days of discussion, shared stories and poems, and exploration. 2 of 12
What the Task Accomplishes All insects are organisms, and all organisms need the same things to survive. This is the generalization that students should take from this series of lessons. As they look at different structures, shapes, sizes and colors of insects, students will begin to develop an understanding that insects need food, water and air to live. The environment provides these things for their survival, and if we capture an insect for study, we must create an environment that provides these things for them. How the Student Will Investigate Students will draw their insects on the portfolio worksheets provided. They may move about the room to observe insects in containers or look at books for ideas as they work. The teacher moves about the room and records students' words on the worksheets. (Older students could also help to record for younger children.) Interdisciplinary Links and Extensions Science This activity lends itself to outside field study and inside terrarium building. Insect study can last all year, but be sure to wait until the weather is warm enough to watch caterpillars metamorphasize into butterflies, or you won t be able to release them outside. Social Studies After an introduction to what insects need, the class can study different environments (desert, wetlands, etc.) to see where specific insects live and what adaptations they have made in order to survive. Language Arts There are dozens of excellent stories and poems that relate to insects and their environments. I like to use both fiction and nonfiction and call students attention to the difference between the information books and storybooks. The class can create its own big book of insects to read together. Movement/Art/Music After observing how different insects move, it s fun to use music to have students move about the room like a particular insect. We also make insect headbands with antennae to wear. It s important to point out different types of movements to students: crawling, hopping, walking with many short fast steps, etc. before they begin and even better if they first observe the real insects to watch how they move. Three students can connect to form one insect (with six legs) and move together to the music. Mathematics Our class likes to solve word problems related to our science study. 3 of 12
Teaching Tips and Guiding Questions During observations, try to guide students to discover some of the general characteristics common to insects. How many legs do you see? (six) Can you describe how it moves? Can you show me how it moves? Where did you find this insect? (on a plant, sometimes on human food) Can you guess why it was there? (eggs hatched out there, it s laying eggs, it s in a cocoon waiting to emerge, or it s looking for food) Does it have wings? Does it have more than two wings? (look for two sets) How many body parts does it have? Can you find its eyes? mouth? What else do you see on its head? (antennae, special mouth parts) What color is it? How many colors do you see? Would the colors help it hide from its enemies? Where would it hide? Does it have skin? fur? What does its body feel like? Do you think it always looked like this? Has it changed since it hatched from the egg? Do you think this insect is helpful or harmful to gardeners? How could we find out? Do you know any gardeners we could ask? Concepts to be Assessed (Unifying concepts/big ideas and science concepts to be assessed using the Science Exemplars Rubric under the criterion: Science Concepts and Related Content) Life Science Structure and Function: Students identify characteristics of organisms. Students categorize organisms as living organisms, as plant eaters or as meat eaters. Students explain that each insect has different structures that serve different functions in growth, survival and reproduction. Life Science Regulation and Behavior: Students observe that organisms have basic needs for air, water and food, that all insects depend on plants, that some eat plants and others eat animals (other insects, dead insects) that eat plants, that they can survive only in an environment in which their needs can be met and that different environments support different types of organisms. Mathematics: Students understand how to use diagrams. Skills to be Developed (Science process skills to be assessed using the Science Exemplars Rubric under the criteria: Scientific Procedures and Reasoning Strategies, and Scientific Communication Using Data) Scientific Method: Observing, predicting/hypothesizing, collecting and recording data, drawing conclusions, communicating findings, challenging misconceptions and raising new questions. 4 of 12
Other Science Standards and Concepts Addressed Scientific Theory: Students look for evidence that explains why things happen and modify explanations when new observations are made. Life Science Structure and Function; Regulation and Behavior; Populations and Ecosystems: Students describe and group animals by what they eat and where they live. They understand that organisms have basic needs - air, water food - that they can survive only in an environment in which needs can be met, that different environments support different types of organisms and that all animals depend on plants in some way. Students understand that living things are found almost everywhere in the world and are interdependent. Students show that each plant or animal has different structures that serve different functions in growth, survival and reproduction. Suggested Materials All that is needed for this task is paper and either markers or crayons. I also recommend having insect books to look at and real insects to observe before and during this activity. Possible Solutions Students should show that the insect needs food and water. Multiple insects such as an ant colony or bee swarm or some aspects of the natural environment may also be shown. Students might also include the insect s home (anthill, beehive, etc.) Only a few students may understand at this point in time that insects also need air. (If they have been keeping insects in jars with holes in the tops, then you could expect them to include this as well.) Note: I would use incorrect or incomplete responses to make decisions about what to teach next. For example, students may know that ants carry dead leaf parts back to their anthills but may not know that they carry dead insects back as well. Task-Specific Assessment Notes Novice There is some evidence of understanding that a ladybug is an insect, but no other information is provided in the drawing or the student's comments. (For example, this student was very engaged in copying the question at the top and perhaps forgot the question to be answered.) Apprentice Sample 1 There is some evidence of conceptual understanding about ants and what they need. They are shown with three body sections but with the wrong number of legs. The student includes water, dirt and other insects in the picture but does not indicate what they might eat. 5 of 12
Sample 2 There is some evidence of conceptual understanding about bees and what they need. They are shown with flowers and flying together to eat the flowers, but the student does not indicate that water is also needed. The student includes some aspects in the environment (grass) that relate to the question and other aspects that do not (me, my house, the road, a big animal, etc.). Perhaps the student lost track of the original task once s/he started. Practitioner This student s solution is complete. There is evidence of conceptual understanding about ants and what they need. The ant is shown with three body sections and six legs. The student includes water, dirt, grass and air in the picture, although s/he does not elaborate on the environment. Expert This student s solution is complete and detailed. There is evidence of use of prior knowledge and experience about what ants eat (a variety are shown) and how they live (anthill made from dirt). Water is also included. All of the ants are shown in the drawing with six legs. 6 of 12
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