What is the chemical formula for formic acid?
How long do butterflies live for?
Can the bodies of butterflies be furry, or only moths?
And did you know that a queen bee can lay up to 1500 eggs a day?
In class 3, after the the Q&I session we looked at a great ‘bug poster‘ from goodbugs.org.au
If you go on the website you can see a version of the poster and you can click on any picture to find out if the ‘bug’ is good or bad and what it does. (Note that some of the pictures take you to the same webpage and you might have to do a little bit of detective work to find out exactly what the creature in the picture is.)
This was a good way to start discussing good insects and bad insects, and how we might control them without using insecticide. We talked about parasites and parasitoids and the difference between them. We then started to make our own poster with words and pictures depicting how insects could be harmful or helpful.
In both classes I tried to conduct a lifecycle cut-and-paste activity. In the outdoor class, the wind, coupled with the restlessness of the children, made this rather tricky. I think we managed nevertheless to discuss the different stages of an insect life cycle. Some insects such as butterflies go through complete, marked, metamorphosis between larva and adult, and others go through gradual metamorphosis e.g. grasshoppers, where the young (known as a nymph) closely resembles the adult form. Talking about insects shedding their skins got us thinking about when insects were most vulnerable in their life cycle, and prompted another question about how long it takes for their skin to harden again. (It depends on how long the insect lives for. For some long-lived insects it could take 2 weeks.)
The next session was meant to be ‘Insects in the bush’ but we were put off visiting Stony Range by an aggressive nesting butcher bird, and our trip to Alan Newton Reserve in North Curl Curl was cut short by the start of an impressive storm. We retreated to the classroom and did some more insect drawings and discussed adaptations instead. Some children enjoy drawing insects, some are not very keen at all, and I admit that this class was not well planned. I think I should have an ’emergency lesson plan’ up my sleeve for next time we have bad weather.
More information
‘Friend or foe?‘ information from Museum Victoria.
More specific information about pollination, seed dispersal and bites and stings, all from the Australian Museum.
And an activity to test ant repellents, from Science Buddies.
Drawings of insects and insect life cycles
Ask a biologist: Complete metamorphosis and incomplete metamorphosis
Short videos and games about insect metamorphosis
Text-dense but very informative page about insect life cycles with a special section about parasitoids, and aphid life cycles including parthenogenesis.
Arthropods on the Understanding Evolution site. There’s a special bit about size restraints, particularly relating to moulting.
