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Summer Workshop
Agenda
May 27-June 7, 2002

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Insects in the Classroom:  Bugs as Teaching
Tools across the Curriculum

• Check into The Tradition
• Orientation for transportation, parking, etc.
• Distribute forms, contact and medical information, etc.

May 28, 2002 Tuesday
Morning - Classroom - 205 Heep Center, West Campus

• Meeting and greeting
• Introduction to the campus - MSC, Corps Center, George Bush Library, rec center, etc.
• Content Survey - David Dixon
• Overview and expectations for the course - Parker
• Joy of Entomology - Teel & Parker
  Discuss expectations for the course - impact on curricula in Houston, topics by month, web site, email contacts, etc.
• Distribute books, insect collecting materials, and supplies

Afternoon - Lecture

• It’s a bug’s life! - Insect recognition, biology, and management for Master Gardeners - Jackman
• Daily formative evaluation - Dixon

Morning - Field Trip

• Field trip to Lick Creek Park
• Collecting techniques demonstration
• Collect specimens

Afternoon - Lab

• Tour of the TAMU collection - Ed Riley
• Making an Insect Collection, Why? and How? - Jackman and Teel

• Pins, points, spreading boards, labeling, preservation, and collection management
• Dry vs. wet collections
• Preparation of material collected during the field trip
• Ethics related to killing specimens and alternatives

• Traps - types, construction, and resources
• Daily formative evaluation - Dixon

Evening

• The great cockroach trapping contest!

May 30, 2002 Thursday
Morning -Lab

• Cockroach trapping results - identification and data summary
• National Standards & TEKS in Science - Parker
• Taxonomy - how and why of classification - Bohlmeyer

• Major animal phyla

• Internal and external morphology - Jackman and Teel

• the grasshopper and how it compares to other insects

Afternoon - Lab
Insects in Ecosystems

• Trophic levels - Habitats and functions - Jackman - SKIPPED
• Ecology video - Bohlmeyer
• Energy and chemical transfer - food chains and food webs - SKIPPED

Communication

• pheromones - the scent beetle activity - Bohlmeyer and Parker
• honey bee dances
• sight - flowers and color

Vertical Curriculum Development - Parker

Daily formative evaluation - Dixon

Evening - Vertical Curriculum Team meetings - on your own

May 31, 2002 Friday
Morning - Lecture
Insects & Humans - Teel

• Art, Literature, Music, & History
• Painting Painted Ladies
• Catastrophic insects - disease transmission, plagues, medical and veterinary cases
• Food Quality - allowable numbers in food

Insect pets and cultures

• An Insect Pet... You Must Be Kidding! An activity of observation and discovery. Keeping an observation journal.

Afternoon - Lab
Culturing Insects - housing considerations - Teel

• Mealworms, butterflies, fire ants, stored products beetles, fruit flies, hissing cockroaches and many more - Sherry Ellison - PRESENTS ON FRIDAY
• Culture media, containers, resources, potential problems and solutions.
• Opportunities for teaching: population growth, resource utilization, nutrition, genetics, and health
• Artificial diets - Bob Harris
• Commercial resources

Habitats for Insecta

Daily formative evaluation - Dixon

June 3, 2002 Monday
Morning - Activity session
Metamorphosis: changes in form through time - Jackman

Ant house - Teel

Insect cultures

Afternoon - Lecture
Managing insect pests with different methods - Jackman and Teel

• Control Alternatives
• IPM - Integrated Pest Management
• School IPM

Camouflage and mimicry - Bohlmeyer

Migration - SKIPPED

Setting up an aquarium - Bohlmeyer

Work on collection

Daily formative evaluation - Dixon

Evening - Aquatic collecting at the Little Brazos River - Bohlmeyer

 June 4, 2002 Tuesday
Morning - Field Trip
Horticulture Department - Cindy Klemmer

• Make a bug sucker!
• Insect gardens in schools
• Symmetry snacks

Afternoon - Lab
Insects in art and human history in the Southwest - Roger Gold

Physiology - circulatory, digestive, skeletal, respiratory, muscular, excretory, reproduction

Cockroach Pull!

Poikilothermy - cold bloodedness with waxworm heart beats - SKIPPED

Revisit Curriculum Plans - deliver short summaries - Parker

Daily formative evaluation - Dixon

Evening - curriculum planning on your own

June 5, 2002 Wednesday
Morning - School Ground Visit to Rock Prairie Elementary - Bohlmeyer
Investigating school ground-based teaching opportunities - Karen Mattingly

• Environmental transformations
• Impacts of human development
• Alteration in habitat structure and complexity

Lunch - Rock Prairie Elementary

Afternoon - Activity sessions
Insects and other invertebrates as decomposers - Bohlmeyer

• Composting and recycling
• Garbage gardens

Daily formative evaluation - Dixon

Evening - Blacklights, barbeque, and bugs! - 7:00 p.m.

June 6, 2002 Thursday
Morning - Lab
Preparation of Collection and Identification - Jackman & Teel

Data Collection and Observations - SKIPPED

Numerical applications - SKIPPED

Computer models - SKIPPED

Complexity in Ecosystems - diversity and abundance estimates - Jackman

• Insects as indicators of water quality

Afternoon -

• Finish collections, pet journals, etc.
• Prepare for presentations

Daily formative evaluation - Dixon

Evening - Planning

• Preparation on your own

June 7, 2002 Friday
Morning - Presentations
Reports on pet journals

Presentations on preliminary plans for incorporating insects into the 2002-2003 curriculum

Afternoon
Evaluation

• Drees, B. and J.A. Jackman. 1998. Field Guide to Texas Insects
• Golden Nature Guide Book to Insects
• Golden Nature Guide Book to Butterflies & Moths
• Golden Nature Guide Book to Spiders
• National and State Science Education documents and materials
• Binder of articles and lesson plans compiled from various sources.
• World Wide Web compilation of resource addresses/sites.
• A series of books, catalogs, and documents will be placed on reserve.
• Master Gardener - CD set
• Junior Master Gardener Books

• Need to have a parallel plan for the curriculum to be sure it is incorporated.
• Make sure that they think ahead for classroom activities - take samples, video, etc. to support class activities like habitat comparisons. Be sure to plan for equipment.
• Evening sessions could have investigative topics.
• Keys to buildings to access equipment.
• Tour TLAC and libraries as sources.
• Open discussion time at the end of each day to wind down. Discuss what they learned and how to use it in the classroom.
• Activity sessions could be used as the format for the site visits later in the course. Selected topics can be used at that time.
• Provide lesson planning outlines to be filled in for activity sessions.
• Could provide interactive curriculum development by having forms and ideas exchanged on the web. Allow participants to pose a topic and have others provide ideas how they can used in the classroom.
• Alternative to the course

• have teachers tell us what they need to teach
• we interact as resource people
• co-develop curricula with teachers

• Flight - wing size and body weight
• Sight - color spectrum and compound eye mosaic view.
• Water balance
• Predation
• Diversity estimates
• Resource development - lumber companies, livestock organizations, etc.
• Insects outreach programs - Monarch Watch, Texas Watch, dragonfly watching
• Evaluation of habitat quality using insects.