Introduction

    "Discovering Butterflies" was developed by a group of students enrolled in EDCI 385, Computer for Teachers, as part of a class assignment. This lesson introduces the students to general information  about butterflies.
    This lesson is in the form of a web quest. As the students go through the web quest they will learn basic facts about butterflies, and they will get to see three different types of specific butterflies from around the world.  The lesson is broken down into five parts. The first two parts are general information about butterflies.  In the first section, the students will explore the life cycle of butterflies. In the next section, the students will learn the basic anatomy of all butterflies. The last three sections deal with three specific butterflies. Each butterfly has its own page with general information about that butterfly. The information includes where the butterfly lives, its eating habits, a physical description (a picture) of the butterfly, the wing span and other interesting characteristics. This web quest also contains four "think sheets" to guide the students through the web quest. They will allow the students to organize their information they are learning in a meaningful way. Also included in the lesson is a test that will allow the teacher to asses how well the students have mastered the objectives.

Content Area and Grade Level

    This lesson was designed for the second grade. It was mainly designed for the science domain, however, it encompasses other domains as well. Since the students have to write a summary at the end of the lesson, this lesson can also be tied to language arts. Also, this lesson is loosely tied to geography. In the lesson, the students will learn about butterflies from different geographic locations. The students will also be developing critical thinking and organizational skills by going through the web quest. For example, the students will be asked to compare and contrast the three different butterflies. This is not something that will be spelled out in black and white in the web quest; the students will have to gather and interpret the information given to produce an answer.
 

NTEQ Lesson Plan Criteria

Objectives

Having gone through the butterfly web quest, the students will have completed the following objectives:
    1. The students will determine what order of insects that butterflies belong to.
    2. The students explain how they can help prevent the butterfly from becoming extinct.
    3. The students will label the parts (anatomy) of the butterfly.
    4. The students will draw diagrams that show the life cycle of the butterfly.
    5. The students will compare and contrast three specific butterflies.

Once the students have completed the web quest, they will do the following:
    1. The students will pick one specific butterfly and write a summary on that butterfly. The summary
        will include:
            -where the butterfly lives
            -the butterfly's (or caterpillar's) eating habits
            -the butterfly's wing span
            -a physical description of the butterfly
            -any additional interesting facts
                *note- The four "think sheets" will be included in their reports (summaries).

Matching Objectives to Computer Functions

    The students will use the web quest on the internet to get all of the information they will need to complete their think sheets and their summary reports. The students will go through the web quest with a partner and use their think sheets as a guide. Of course there are questions on the think sheets that require the students to take in the information on the web quest, think about it and formulate answers to them that are not spelled out directly on the web quest for them.

The Problem or Issue

    This lesson focuses on the basic facts about butterflies because it is geared towards the second grade. However, the web quest does go into the problem that butterflies may face very near into the future, extinction. The lesson touches on it briefly and asks the students how they think that they can help avoid butterfly extinction. However, in order for them to do this, they must first learn the basics about butterflies. That is the main objective of the lesson. Using this real world problem will hopefully help to motivate them to learn about butterflies and their habitats.
    The students will be provided with many resources so they are able to master all of the objectives. The main resource will the "Discovering Butterflies" web quest. The students will also have access to many books which will be helpful to find out more about butterflies. These books include:
 
            ~ Moths and Butterflies and How They Live  by Robert M. McClung
            ~ The Great Butterfly Hunt by Ethan Herberman
            ~ Butterflies and Moths by Denny Robson
            ~ Entomology  by Ellen Doris
            ~ Crinklerton's Guide to Knowing Butterflies and Moths  by Jim Arnosky
 

There will also be links to sites on the internet available on the index page for the students to go and visit. They will have extra examples of different butterflies. The links are...
 
       ~ Butterflies of Ireland  http://indigo.ie/~qmaster/the_hut/butterf.htm
         ~ Public Butterfly Garden and Zoo http://butterflywebsite.com/gardens/index.htm
         ~ Children's Butterfly Site http://webmesc.mesc.nbs.gov/butterfly/Butterfly.html
 
The students may decide to pick their personal butterfly from one of these sites or from one of the books. As mentioned before, there will be four think sheets that the students will use to organize their information while going through the web quest. These are linked from the index page under worksheets.
 
 

Information Manipulation

Integration Strategies:
    The students will have to use integration strategies when they are filling out their think sheets during the web quest. They will be taking in the information from the web quest and integrating that information with the information on the think sheets. They will be paraphrasing (at a second grade level) what they are learning from the web quest.

Organizational Strategies:
    The students will have to organize their thoughts to be able to compare and contrast the three different types of butterflies they learned about during the web quest. To help them, one of the think sheets has a chart that they can fill in that allows them to look at all three butterflies at the same time.

Elaboration Strategies:
    To elaborate what the students have learned, the students will have to diagram the butterfly's life cycle and label the anatomy of the butterfly. At the end of the lesson, the students will also have to write a summary about one specific butterfly that they chose which will include some basic facts on that butterfly.

Results

    At the end of the lesson, the students will turn in a report (summary) that includes the four completed think sheets, and a summary of one butterfly that they picked out to research. The summary must include the place the butterfly lives, its wing span, its eating habits (as a caterpillar or butterfly), a physical description, and any other interesting facts that they found about their butterfly.

Activities while using the Computer

    The students will work in groups of two to go through the web quest. All of the students will be able to work through the web quest at the same time, since there are enough computers. While they are working, they will be filling out their think sheets individually. Of course they may discuss the questions, but each individual must fill out the think sheets. After the web quest, some of the students may choose to stay on the computer to visit other butterfly sites that were linked to the web quest to pick out their bitterly. Other may choose to use other sources.

Activities prior to using the Computer

    Prior to using the computer, the teacher has to introduce the lesson. To get the students interested, the teacher should start the class with "What do we already know about butterflies?" The students will be excited to share their knowledge. Once the teacher has listed this information on the board, he or she can then ask, "What do you want to know about butterflies?" By doing this, the students will already begin to think up question in their heads that they want to answer. After a list has been made, the teacher can explain that to answer most of these questions, they are going to use a web quest called "Discovering Butterflies." The teacher should tell the students, "If the web quest did not answer the question you wanted to know, let me know and I will help you find the answer after the lesson." This way no student will feel that their question was not important enough to be answered. The answer may be in one of the books.
    The teacher should also tell the students exactly what they have to do. They have to
        1. complete the web quest,
        2. have all four sheets filled out completely,
        3. pick one additional butterfly and gather the information found on the think sheet.
           Make sure that the students know that they can use the computer links or the books to do so.
    This lesson should be easy enough for a novice teacher to handle. It will take a lot of patients because the children will have many questions while going through the web quest. If the lesson is set up in the right way, meaning the students know exactly what has to be done, it will be a great lesson.
 

Activities after to using the Computer

    After the students have finished going through the web quest and picked their individual butterfly, they will compile a summary report. Included in this report will be the four think sheets that the students filled out while going through the web quest. In addition to this, the students will have to write a paragraph on their specific butterfly. Their summary will include where the butterfly lives, the butterflies eating habits, the butterfly's wing span, a physical description of the butterfly and any additional interesting facts that they found on their butterfly.

Support Activities

    This web quest fits into other domains as well, not just science. The students will explore geography while going through the activity when they look at butterflies from different parts of the world. The activity also incorporated organizational skill and writing skills. The students will have to organize any information that they find on their butterflies and present it in a well organized and thought out paragraph.

Possible Variations

    To enrich the activity, the teacher can have their students actually raise butterflies. Each student can have their own cocoon to observe and keep a growth log on. This way they will not only get to see the changes on the web quest, but they will also get to see them first hand. This will also teach the students to keep a scientific logs. The students will develop observational skills as well. The web quest activity  can be done during the time when the cocoon is changing, but before the butterfly emerges. This variation will add more depth to the students' understanding of the butterfly's life cycle.

Conclusion

    This lesson is a great lesson for younger students to learn about butterflies. It allows the students to learn basic facts about butterflies and their life cycle and their anatomy. It then has the students explore butterflies from different parts of the world. It will get them to see that butterflies are not unique to their geographic region. Finally, it requires them to synthesize all of their knowledge that they have learned and create a summary report that demonstrates how well they have mastered the objectives of the lesson.
 
 
 
 
 
 

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