Catch the Green Bug: Creating Conservation Scientists
My students need scientific tools like insect display boxes, insect pins, labels, and pinning blocks to help them learn how wildlife biologists classify living things.
The words "I want to be a scientist!" are very powerful words in a middle school classroom. My students love opportunities to become scientists by solving complex problems, identifying specimens, and using real scientific tools. I teach science, but I also show students what they can become.
My classroom is full of inquisitive students who love a good challenge and will rise to the occasion to learn new science concepts and to solve complex problems.
Many students love to do extra-curricular science activities, like Stem Club or Science Olympiad. This project will provide students with a different opportunity to extend their learning outside of the classroom by taking students outdoors to become wildlife biologists. Then by using field guides they will identify what insects they have collected by scientific orders, like beetles, butterflies, and grasshoppers.
My Project
My students will truly become scientists with this project. Many wildlife biologists classify the organisms they study by similar characteristics. My students will collect insects outside. They will then use the pins and pinning block to put the insects into their display boxes, which they will keep. Since insects are so small they must be pinned so the students can observe them for characteristics to identify them, just like real wildlife biologists. They will use keys, charts, and books to accurately identify organisms.
The more opportunities students have observing insects and in identifying them, the more interested they will become in science and in conservation. They will learn how insects affect the whole world and how we can affect insects. This is what I want my students to learn - that they are part of a bigger world. They will know that they can have a positive effect or a negative one on the environment. Most importantly they will know they can make a difference.
"In the end, we conserve only what we love.
We will love only what we understand. We will understand only what we are taught." How do we get people to care about conservation and sustainability? We give them fun and meaningful experiences with nature while they are still young so that they will want to protect wildlife when they get older. This project will get students excited about the smallest species on our planet and they will be interested in being both conservationists and scientists.
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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Ms. Germano and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
