Insects: Listen and Learn

Purpose: This activity is intended to help students use their listening skills to make observations of their environment. At the end of this activity the student will have identified various insects, using listening skills as a form of observation, within a natural setting. The students, along with their identification of the insect, will create a sketch of the insect. This activity will take 45 minutes - 1 hour to complete.

TEKS: Fourth Grade Science

(2) Scientific Inquiry: Field and Laboratory

b. collect information-observe and measure

analyze and interpret information to construct explanations from direct and indirect evidence.

Materials:

blank pieces of paper
pencils
tape of insect noises
tape recorder

Motivate! : The teacher will begin the class by asking students to close their eyes and listen. The teacher will then play a tape with various noises of insects? The teacher will ask the students if they can identify any of the noises? Where would these insects be found? Can you see them in your mind?

Activity:

The students will then be invited to join in on an insect observation activity that will take place outdoors.
The students will walk around in an outdoor, designated area, and listen to the insects.
Are there many different kinds of insects, or just a harmony of one type of insect?
When the students can tune into particular insect's noises; they need to think about the insect. Do they know the insect's identity? Where does this insect live? What does it like to eat? Does the insect fly? What does the insect look like?
After the students have thought about the insect, they should try and make a sketch of the insect, as well as including a few lines about what the noises they heard sounded like.

Safety Tips:

When outside listening to insects, students need to keep awareness of their surroundings, and be sure to stay within the area that has been designated for the activity.

Concept Discovery: After the class has had time to listen and sketch insects, the group will return to the classroom for discussion. What type of insects did the students observe? Did the insects that were observed have any similarities? Why do insects make these noises? If no insect noises could be singled out, how is this possible? Why would there be no insect sounds? How do the insects create these noises? Through using sounds the insects are able to communicate with one another. Does the weather affect the amount of insects that we hear?

Going Further: The students can select one particular insect and go into a more detailed study of its unique noises? Why does the insect make noises? What are its purposes for communicating? The students can research this information on a trip to the library, or through using the World Wide Web. The students can then return to the class and share how and why different insects create their specialized noises.

Closure: This activity will close with having the children think about insect noise and then think about human noises. Do the two different types of organisms make noise for the same reason? Why or why not? In this activity the students have taken a first-hand look at insects and their communication skills. The students have learned that different types of insects can create different noises for very specific reasons. In order to learn more about organisms, such as insects, it becomes necessary often times for researchers to do just as we did today- LISTEN.

Assessment: The students will be assessed according to their effort in discerning different insect noises. If the students try to identify various insect sounds and recognize that these noises are a way in which insects communicate, then the student has mastered the lesson.

Connections:

Social Studies- The way in which insects communicate can be compared to the way humans communicate. Students can then look at ways that make humans good communicators.
English- The students can create their own new language with symbols and sounds representing words that carry meaning.

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