Overview

The students will list characteristics that they share with the rest of their family and compare and contrast the characteristics to other students in the classroom. The students will apply their knowledge of recognizing special characteristics to categorize pictures of different insects. The teacher will point out that the categories the students placed the pictures of insects in are called families. The students will then examine the characteristics that are predominant in each family and specify the reasons for the different characteristics.
Directed towards a 7th grade science class during one block class Period (1 hour & 15 Minutes).

Purpose

To have students determine what characteristics are specific to each insect family and specify why the characteristic is important to the survival of the insect.
Grade 7-10. Species Change Through Reproduction (b) compare traits of organisms that enhance survival and reproduction.

Materials

Pictures of my family
"Memory"-type cards with different pictures of insects on them
overhead
Sharpie markers

Background Information

Make sure the insects on the cards can be grouped easily into several different families and that the whole family has at least one obvious identifiable trait. Have a list of characteristics that you share with your family, especially the ones in the pictures you are going to show. Know the scientific names of the different insect families that will be presented.

Motivate

Show kids the pictures of your family. Tell them some physical and behavioral characteristics you have in common with the members of your family. Ask them to give you examples of things they have in common with their family. Write down the kids' responses. Ask them why the people in their families may possess such traits. Write the answers down next to the corresponding trait.

Activity

Get students into groups of 3 or 4 people. Give each group a set of insect cards and ask them to put them into categories. Remind them to pay attention to physical characteristics and try to figure out why the characteristics are important to the insect. After about 10 minutes ask them to give titles to each category they made and have them orally list the insects they put into each category and why they put them into the category. After each group has gone, ask the students to discuss the characteristics of each insect family in their group and specify why certain characteristics are important to the survival of the insects. Discuss the conclusions with the whole classroom.

Safety Tips

No known safety hazards.

Concept Discovery

The students should group the insects according to certain physical characteristics. The sudents should recognize that the insects have developed these characteristics to help them survive in their prospective habitats. The students should also realize that the insects are grouped into categories called families.

Going Further

A person can use this activity to introduce different species within each family or introduce different kingdoms. The students can create their own insect that will fit into one of the insect families and see if there is a real insect that resembles their created insect. Many activities can be done with the concept of adaptation, such as the M&M/candy corn activity or the butterflies in the classroom activity.

Closure

Ask the students to write down some of the characteristics of insects from different families and see if any of them overlap. Discuss why the overlap is present and point out that isects are grouped into larger categories called kingdoms, phylums, classes, and orders, which they will learn more about the following class day.

Do a short activity at the end where the students find one family of insects from a selection of many insects and have them write why they grouped them in the manner they did. Also ask them to write down a reason why the identifying characteristic is important to the insect family's survival.

Connections

English:
Write a description of an insect in a chosen family.
Find out if families in language exist and what their purpose is.
Math:
Study the geometric designs on the insect's body.
Study the symmetric design of insects. Apply concept of symmety to algebra.
Social Studies:
Distingiush the effects of a certain insect family on the environment and humans.
Specify the role an insect family plays on its habitat. Is it a predator? Is it a parasite?

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