|
Where did they go?
Organisms have different strategies for surviving the winter months, but most of them just “hunker down.” How do they do it? Building on their fall observations, students collect data on how the organisms in their schoolyard are chilling out for the winter! Our second visit expanded on students’ fall observations of how organisms were preparing for winter in their schoolyards. Specifically, this visit focused on how certain insects lived during the winter months, and how we might answer our questions by collecting data. We developed Looking for Larvae (Grades 1-2) (pdf format) and Assessing the Effects of Larva (Grades 3-6) (pdf format). These inquiries are loosely based on the Winter Entomology Investigation (pdf format) , but they particularly emphasize the processes of data collection and interpretation. To answer the question “Are there any larvae spending the winter in the seedheads of knapweed?”, 1st-2nd graders dissected knapweed seedheads and collected data on the presence or absence of larvae. 3rd-6th graders addressed the more challenging question “Are the fly larvae (a biocontrol) doing their job by reducing the number of seeds in knapweed seedheads?” and collected data on the number of seeds versus the number of larvae in seedheads. Our visit concluded with an interpretive discussion of our results.
|
