Introduction

Welcome to the wonderful world of insects! In this WebQuest, you will be working on becoming an insect expert, also known as an entomologist! To become an expert, you will need to learn about the parts of an insect, their habitat (where they live), food, family, life cycle, and adaptations (what they do when their environment changes). 

At the end of this WebQuest, you can prove that you're really an insect expert by telling about some helpful and harmful insects, writing a poem about butterflies, and writing a report about your favorite insect! This will take you many days to complete so make sure and take your time, completing each task. Let's get started!

The Task

The WebQuest Task: In order for you to become an insect expert or entomologist, you will need to complete the following tasks: 

• You will know the body parts of an insect. 
• You will know the jobs of these body parts. 
• You will know three helpful insects. 
• You will know three harmful insects.
• You will write a haiku poem describing a butterfly. 
• You will discover what metamorphosis is. 
• You will know what insects go through metamorphosis. 
• You will write a report about your favorite insect. 
• Your report will include your insect's habitat, food, family, life cycle, and adaptations.

Hi detectives! You are going to be exploring the world of insects! You will be learning about many different insects in this lesson. 

1. First, let's look at some basic facts about insects. 

2. Now that you know some basic facts about insects, let's be detectives and search out some harmful and helpful insects. 

This link will give you examples of helpful and harmful insects. Now, can you name me three helpful insects and three harmful insects? 

Write them down now. Write down next to each why they are helpful or harmful.
 

3. Now, in one paragraph, write about the three helpful insects that you chose. In another paragraph, write about the three harmful insects that you chose. Make sure that you include descriptions of each. At the bottom of each paragraph, draw an illustration of the three insects that you chose. Remember to write in complete sentences!

4. Now your job as a detective is to pick an insect, draw it, and label the body parts of that insect. Label the eyes, legs, antennae, head, thorax, and abdomen. Next to each label, tell the function of the body part. Make sure you draw the insect large enough so that all of the body parts can be seen. Use a full sheet of paper. First, you need to search out these body parts! 

For examples of insects and their body parts click on this link. Click on the insect of your choice and you can see it enlarged. 

This link will also give you information on the body parts of an insect. Scroll to the bottom and click on "Show1: Bee Anatomy." 

This link will let you know the definitions of different body parts. 

Now it is time to take a short quiz to review your knowledge of insects and their body parts. Click on this link to take the quiz. Click on "Label the parts of the grasshopper." Write your answers to numbers 1,2,3,5,6, and 10. Then check your answers under "Answers to labeling the Grasshopper."

5. Now it is your time as the detective to search out all the facts about butterflies that you can. Here you will learn about a monarch butterfly.

Scroll to bottom and click on "monarch butterfly under show 3." Learn more about butterflies by clicking on "Bugs, Bugs, and More Bugs, Click Here." make sure and click on butterflies. 

6. Now that you have successfully searched out facts about butterflies, you will use those facts to write a poem called a haiku. 

How many of you know what a haiku poem is? Well let me tell you. 

Haiku poems originated in Japan. 

A haiku poem is a poem that does not rhyme. 

Haikus are written in the present tense. 

A haiku has three lines total. 

The first line has five syllables. 

The second line has seven syllables. 

The third line has five syllables. 

That is 17 syllables total. 

Haikus are usually written about nature. 

This link will give you examples of haiku poems that students like you made up themselves. 

Now you need to write your own haiku about a butterfly. Brainstorm some ideas that you know about butterflies. After you write down a few facts, write your poem. Once you finish your poem, draw a picture of that butterfly. Remember to count your syllables carefully and if you need to review information about butterflies, repeat step number 5.

7. Wow, you have learned a lot about insects so far! Now it is time to discover all about metamorphosis. Some insects go through complete metamorphosis and some do not. Click here to learn about metamorphosis. Click on "ALL ABOUT BUGS." Talk with your group about what you learned about metamorphosis. Now it is time to make a posterboard with your group, telling what you know about metamorphosis . Make sure you write down all the facts and include pictures. Each of you needs to take turns presenting the posterboard to each other. Remember, you are now the detective who needs to explain what you've discovered. Remember to be creative.

8. This is the last step of your project as detectives. You will be searching out many different insects. After you finish searching, you will be writing a report about your favorite insect. In this report you will have to write about your favorite insect's habitat (where they live), the food they eat, the family they belong to, their lifecycle, and how they adapt to their surroundings. So get searching! 

Here you will learn about all different types of insects. Click on "BUGS,BUGS, AND MORE BUGS, CLICK HERE." Here are some more insects. 

Here you will learn basic facts about many insects. Click on the insect of your choice.

Here you will learn about ants. 

Do you know anything about roaches?

How about spiders? There are a lot of spiders listed here, so pick one that looks interesting to you! 

Now it is time to write your report! Remember to include all of the information listed above in your report. 

Evaluation

Describe to the learners how their performance will be evaluated. Specify whether there will be a common grade for group work vs. individual grades.

	Beginning 1	Developing 2	Accomplished 3	Exemplary 4	Score
Haiku Poem	You did not follow the directions for a haiku poem.	Your poem is missing some syllables or lines and is not about butterflies.	Your poem has 17 syllables and 3 lines about butterflies.	You use describing words and you followed directions for a haiku poem.
Favorite Insect Report	Your report is not complete.	Your report is missing some important information.	Your report talks about habitat, food, family, life cycle, and adaptations about a favorite insect.	Your report gives good examples and more information about your insect than asked for.
Anatomical Parts of an Insect	Your picture did not include all the body parts and their functions.	Some of your labels and functions were not correct.	Your picture included all the body parts and their functions.	Your picture included a lot of detail and was neat.
Helpful and Harmful Insects Activity	You did not write about 3 helpful and 3 harmful insects and you did not draw a picture.	You did not write 2 paragraphs. Some of the information you gave was incorrect.	You wrote about 3 helpful and 3 harmful insects and drew a picture of each one.	You explained clearly why the insects are helpful or harmful in detail. Your pictures are neat and detailed.
Posterboard	Little effort.	Some effort but did not follow all of the directions.	You talked with your group, completed your posterboard, and presented it to those in your groups.	You did more than expected. You went above and beyond.

Congratulations! You have successfully completed your investigative work and are now a bonefide entomologist in your classroom. You have shown that you are able to identify insect body parts and their functions. You have learned about metamorphosis. You can correctly identify harmful and helpful insects. You have created a haiku poem and can claim to be an expert on at least one insect. Great detective work!

Credits & References

Links

Insect Mania

University of Kentucky

Alien Empire

Think Quest

Haikus

City Bugs

Think Quest 2

Think Quest Junior

All About Ants

Yucky Roach World

Spiders

Images

Thank you to John Lewis of Nashville, Tennessee for the spider images.

Thank you to Insect Mania for the rest of the images used.