Teaching Sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

10 minutes – Part A: Important Insects
30 minutes – Part B: Schoolyard Bush Blitz
30 minutes – Part C: Attracting Insects
5 minutes – Reflection

Part A: Important Insects

Step 1.

Introduce students to Bush Blitz, an organisation that conducts species discovery expeditions in the outback. Show them the statistics of species found in Australia by Bush Blitz that are unknown to science, the majority being insects.

Step 2.

Invite students to suggest words that come to mind when they see, hear or think of an insect. Words could be descriptive or emotive. Record words on the board.

You could then work with the class to categorise these words as either positive or negative. Did the class think of mostly positive or negative words?

Step 3.

Now invite students to work in small groups or as a class create a mind-map around the following question: Why are insects important to an ecosystem?

Where students have worked in groups, you could invite groups to team up to share ideas, or you could share ideas as a class.

Step 4.

Share the following clip with students. As they watch, invite students to take notes on anything they see or hear that they would like to add to their mind-maps.

What If Insects Disappeared From The Planet? (https://youtu.be/TyLTrejawx4)

Once complete, invite students to share what new information they found out from this clip. In addition, you could instruct students to work independently or in their groups to answer the following question (also available on the Student Worksheet):

What are three benefits of having insects in the environment?
Suggested answers from the clip: Animals in the world would die, pollinate crops so we have food, decompose dead matter.

Step 5.

Show on the board the pictures from the Bush Blitz Information Sheet. Highlight the visual appeal of the insects.

Working in pairs invite students to select one insect whose appearance most interests them. Instruct them to note down the characteristics they like the most.

Part B: Schoolyard Bush Blitz

Step 1.

Explain to students that the class will conduct their own Bush Blitz on the school grounds. They will work in pairs to find insects, then draw them and the plants the insect is located on or around.

Each pair will need:

Paper
Pencils
Clipboard
Tongs or any implements that can be used to turn over rocks while looking for insects - one per pair.

Working in their pairs students should draw, in detail, all the different insects and plants found within the time limit. They should also note down any behaviours observed.

Students should identify what type of insect it is, such as ant, worm, spider, fly (if necessary, students can use the Bugs And Slugs ID Chart to help them). They should also identify the general type of plant that the insect was on or near, such as grass, bushes, flowers, trees, soil.

For safety, the pairs will be provided with tongs or another implement to lift up rocks and decaying matter. Anything moved must be returned to its original place afterwards.

Remind students that they should aim to disturb insects as little as possible, and they should avoid injuring them.

Note: Instructions for the Schoolyard Bush Blitz are also available on the Student Worksheet.

Step 2.

On return to the classroom, note on the board how many of each type of insect was found. In addition, note down the types of plants and determine the most common types of plants the insects were near.

Step 3.

Invite students to reflect on their Bush Blitz through a class discussion. Consider the following questions:

Do you think your survey gave a comprehensive review of the insects found on the school grounds?
How could you find more insects?

Through this process, suggest to students that they could find more insects by:

Coming back at night
Conducting more surveys
Surveying a larger area
Digging up some soil.

Part C: Attracting Insects

Step 1.

Now invite students if they know of any way to attract more insects. Write ideas on the board.

Then explain that in their pairs, they will research and list as many ways as they can find to attract insects. Where possible, encourage students to focus on Australian resources. Why might this be important? For example, Australia has native bees that might require different conditions to European honey bees.

Some examples of actions for attracting insects might include:

Bug/bee hotels
Native plants
Herb garden
Plant purple flowers such as lavender or other pollinating flowers
Leaving out shallow water dishes for insects.

Step 2.

Once students have conducted their research explain that they will now write a letter, or create a video, to petition the school management to invest in insect attracting initiatives.

The letter or video must include:

A summary of the survey conducted on the school grounds and the types of insects and plants found
Drawings of the insects found
Why insects are essential to the environment and what would happen without them
Propose at least two insect attracting initiatives and give an estimate of their costs to the school
Propose where on the school grounds these initiatives should be located - consider the visual appeal, exposure to the weather, limited student access to the site, student safety
Give at least two reasons why it would improve the school grounds and/or the school atmosphere, for example, plants are mood-boosting
Give the letter or show the video to other groups to be given feedback. Use the feedback to improve the letter/video.

Extension: Have the students work as a class to use the best responses from each of their letters to write a class letter, which could potentially be submitted to the school management for consideration.

Reflection

Invite students to work independently to answer the following reflection questions (also available on the Student Worksheet):

How persuasive do you think your letter would be to school management?
What did you enjoy the most about the activities in this lesson?
What is something from this lesson you want to learn more about?

Differentiated Learning

Extension -

After writing the letter, the students could put together an infographic resource that can be used to educate others in the school about the importance of insects.
Students could create a scientific drawing of one of the insects they found using the Scientific Drawing Guidelines.

Provisions for Learning Support -

When writing the letter, they could work in small groups so they can help each other. Some students may need instruction on writing a draft before finishing their letter - they could first answer each question in dot points and then on the second draft formulate proper sentences.

Teacher Reflection

Take this opportunity to reflect on your own teaching:

What did you learn about your teaching practice today?
What worked well?
What didn't work so well?
What would you share?
Where to next?
How are you going to get there?

Backyard Bush Blitz - Schoolyard Bush Blitz

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