Species Habitat BugQuest Project
My Name: _________________________ Date: ______________
 
 

The Quest - An Introduction
    Scientists are increasingly concerned about the destruction of the rain forest and other habitats.  A worldwide scientific project  called SPECIES HABITAT has started which will seek to preserve all known species of plants and animals. Your group has been invited to help determine which insects will be collected and become part of this SPECIES HABITAT.  Since these natural habitats are disappearing quickly, scientists need to collect the most important insects first.  Your group will choose an insect to research to gather information in order to convince these scientists that your insect should be saved and collected, before it disappears.  You will each have a role in this Bugquest:  a scientist, an interviewer, and an artist.

                                                                                

What We Hope You Will LearnContent Objectives   (grades 4-9)
1. Science:  Identify body parts of an insect, its life cycle, its geographical distribution, its food, its unique characteristics,  its survival techniques, its proliferation, its niche in the biome, its scientific classification

2. Technology: Use the Internet for online authentic research, writing effective questions, drawing with detail

3. Language Arts: Read informational articles to find answers, write an interview

4. Thinking Strategies:  Synthesis of information into a new format

Assessment How will you know you have accomplished your goal?

Write an interview with your insect which describes the  answers to the  questions:
    What does this insect look like? ( Student drawing of insect) How does it compare with other insects?
    What is its life cycle?
    Where can this insect be found - its geographical distribution?
    What food does this insect need?
    What are unique characteristics about this insect which make it
        important to join the SPECIES HABITAT PROJECT?
    Why is this insect able to survive ?
    What is its proliferation, how many can be found in the world, how easy is reproduction?
    How would you describe this insect's niche in the biome?
    What is this insect's  scientific classification?
                                                                        

How Much Time Do WeHave?

Time Allotted for this project: Two one-hour sessions in the computer lab,
and followup sessions with your group in the classroom.

What are the Steps for the Quest ?

Check off as you complete each

Introduction to the Class: 
    Use a large screen projection device to show the class a website with Worm Interviews to show them the format of their final products.  Discuss the fictional names, the scientific content shared, the writing style of interviews.

Session One - First Half Hour

__l. Divide your group into roles. Make decisions about roles based on student strengths:

Scientist(s) - research and take notes about the insect (Student Name(s) _______________________)

Interviewer /Writer- write up the interview between the scientist and the insect.
        (Student Name(s) _______________________)

Artist - Draw a picture of your insect   (Student Name(s) _______________________)

__2. All of the group will search the Internet sites below to determine their choice of an insect for the SPECIES HABITAT PROJECT.  Our insect will be _____________________.  Star the Internet sites that seem to have the best info.

__3. Record your group's choice of Insect on the class chart.  There will be no duplications, since we want as many insects to be researched for the Project as possible.

Session One - Second Half Hour

__ 4. Begin each of your jobs independently.  The artist should find a picture of the insect using the Internet, Insect books from the library or an encyclopedia and begin drawing the Insect using Clarisworks or Kidpix.  The writer should begin a new Word Processing document and set up the interview questions, including fictitious names for the scientist and the Insect.  The scientist should begin taking notes on notecards about each of the questions.

__5. At the end of the session, meet together and discuss what you have accomplished and what needs to be done next.  Note, all documents should be saved on the server in the correct folder __________.  Our plans for next time:
 
 

Session Two - First Half Hour

__ 6. Begin your session talking with each other about your plans for five minutes, then get to work.  If any member finishes before the half hour mark, (s)he can help the others.  Remember, your work is save in the ____________
folder on the server.

Session Two - Second Half Hour

__7. For this last half hour, all group members need to help the Writer finish the Insect Interview. Edit and use spellchecker.  Paste your insect drawing onto the interview document. Print a copy for each of you and staple it to the front of this BugQuest Sheet.  Evaluate your interview.

Followup Activity
    l.Train Student Webweavers to copy/paste the word processing documents into HTML using Netscape Communicator.  They may need to use Graphic Converter to paste the picture.  Post the SPECIES HABITAT BugQuest documents onto the school website.

    2. Use these new webpages to complete a Compare and Contrast worksheet.

Internet Websites for Research

Amazing Insects Project http://www.minnetonka.k12.mn.us/SCHOOLS/groveland/insect.proj/insects.html

Ask Jeeves    http://ajkids.com

Cockroach World   Yuckiest site on the web    http://www.yucky.com/
              All about insects and worms
              Inquiring Worm Reporter for students' questions

Dr. Hoffman's Bug of the Month   http://www.vmnh.org/curators/bugmonth.html
            Great images and information about a different bug each month as well as a collection of previous months

Entomology for Beginners    http://www.bos.nl/homes/bijlmakers/
           Basic information on the anatomy and metamorphosis of insects

Entomology at Colorado State   http://www.coloState.edu/Depts/Entomology/images.html
          Images and links of insects

Entomology on the World Wide Web  http://entowww.tamu.edu/entoweb/#lessons
        Texas A&M University, lesson plans, information, images

Insect Drawings     http://www.life.uiuc.edu/entomology/insectgifs.html
        University of Illinois, 50 to 60 year old original drawings as teaching aids for entomology

Insects Hotlist  from the Smithsonian Museum http://sln.fi.edu/tfi/hotlists/insects.html
        Images, teacher resources, background information and facts

Insects on the World Wide Web    http://www.isis.vt.edu/~fanjun/text/Links.html
        Entomology from VA Tech

Joy of Cooking Bugs     http://www.bcmag.com/archive/old15.html
           The art of preparing insect meals

Mealworms Info from the University of Ohio  http://www.ag.ohio-state.edu/~ohioline/hyg-fact/2000/2093.html

Scanning Electron Microscope    http://www.mos.org/sln/sem/sem.html
         Insect images upclose

Virtual Insectary     http://www.vt.edu:10021/forestry/wildlife/stein/insects.html
    Images of some common insects, including information on the foods they eat as well as their habitats

Worm Interviews -   http://www.erols.com/esbelasic/worminterview.htm
        Questions and answers about several types of worms

Evaluation of our Insect Interview:

    5 - Top work      4 - Good work      3 - Fair work       2 - Poor work

__l.  My effort for both sessions
__2. The quality of our Scientific research about our insect
__3. The quality of our write-up of the Insect Interview
__4. The clarity and realism of our Insect drawing
__5. Our ability to use several resources to collect our research and then put the research into one document
__6. We used our time efficiently
 
 
 

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