Colorful Wings

Images/Video Resources

Scenario

 The class has just received a group of butterflies in their third stage: pupa (chrysalis).  The whole class is asking how a caterpillar can transform into a beautiful butterfly. Teacher decides to take the class on an expedition. What the class does not know is that they are about to embark on a virtual expedition.  Teacher logs on to “Butterflies North and South”; this is a virtual museum on butterflies. With the assistance of technology teacher shows pictures, videos and basic information on the topic.  At the end of the presentation the students are engaged and want to learn more about butterflies.

Task

Sample Investigations/Teacher Resources

Task: 

Your teacher has given you an introduction on butterflies.  You have learned that there are many types of butterflies around the world.  In order for students to learn more about butterflies they are going to work on the following project “Butterfly Watch”.  To guide students in their project they would use the following questions:

What types of butterflies are commonly found in their living area?

What do butterflies eat?

Predator or Prey?

what are the stages of a butterfly

Butterfly or Moth?

Students will keep a journal to document their observations.

Add your sample investigations and descriptions here

Sample Investigations:

http://www.cocoon.org/

http://oakdome.com/k5/lesson-plans/powerpoint/butterfly-lifecycle.php

Teacher Resources:

http://www.kidsbutterfly.org/life-cycle 

Student Resources

http://prezi.com/

http://www.spicynodes.org/

Tutorial Videos

Slideshare

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mzed29kYt0k

Student Work

Standards (TEKS)

1. List your personal understanding, ideas or hunches.

 With your team use all the information available in the scenario to list everything that you know about Butterflies. You do not have to conduct any research yet. Just use the information given and write the facts that you already know about Butterflies.

With your team, make a list about what you do not know and would like to learn. List all the questions you will need to answer to solve the problem.  

5. List what needs to be done.
"What should we do?" List actions to be taken, e.g., question an expert, conduct research, visit the library, check the internet on related topics. Research on the Butterfly Life Cycle.

6. Develop a problem statement.

You will be responsible for thinking and choosing one of the questions to solve the problem.  A problem statement should come from your analysis of what you know. In one or two sentences, you should be able to describe what it is that your group is trying to solve, produce, respond to, or find out. The problem statement may have to be revised as new information is discovered and brought to bear on the situation.

Use all the resources available (Internet, library, you may want to interview a weather reporter, etc) to research about the problem/topic and find a solution.

8. Present Findings

Each team will do a presentation using prezi or spicynodes. Students need to follow the rubric that has been created for them.  

Rubric:

MyRubric Butterflies.doc  

2.2 Scientific investigation and reasoning. The student develops abilities necessary to do scientific inquiry in classroom and outdoor investigations. The student is expected to:

2.2A Ask questions about organisms, objects, and events during observations and investigation.

2.2B Plan and conduct descriptive investigations such as how organisms grow.

2.2E Communicate observations and justify explanations using student-generated data from simple descriptive investigations.

Sources

Youtube.com 

Google.com

Google.com/Images

CSCOPE