Hitchcock Center for the Environment’s School Programs Meet Massachusetts Curriculum Standards Insect Investigations Grade Levels: K-‐6 Program Description: What makes an animal an insect? What role do insects play in our world and how are they important to people? Students will learn about the science of entomology through a live insect lab, and will collect insects, and their non-‐insect relatives, in various habitats on our trails. Through these activities, we will learn about the adaptations, life cycles and ecology of one of the most successful groups of animals on earth. Massachusetts Science and Technology/Engineering Framework: Strand: Life Science Characteristics of Living Things •
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Grades PreK-‐2 Life Science #1: Animals and plants are living things that grow, reproduce, & need food, air, & water. Grades PreK-‐2 Life Science #2: Characteristics of living and nonliving things. Grades PreK-‐2 Life Science #3: Plants and animals have life cycles that vary. Grades 3-‐5 Life Science #1: Physical characteristics of plants and animals. Grades 3-‐5 Life Science #3: Plants and animals go through predictable life cycles, including birth, growth, development, reproduction, and death. Grades 3-‐5 Life Science #4: Major life cycle stages of the butterfly. Heredity •
Grades 3-‐5 Life Science #5: Observed characteristics of plants and animals can be fully inherited or they can be affected by the climate or environment. Ecology •
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Grades PreK-‐2 Life Science #6: People and other animals interact with the environment through their senses. Grades PreK-‐2 Life Science #8: An organism’s habitat provides for its basic needs. Grades 3-‐5 Life Science #8: Organisms meet needs by using behaviors in response to information from the environment. Some behaviors are instinctive and others learned. Continued > Hitchcock Center for the Environment 525 South Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01002 www.hitchcockcenter.org | 413-‐256-‐6006 Strand: Earth and Space Science Materials and Energy Resources •
Grades Pre-‐K-‐2 Earth and Space #1: Water, rocks, soil, and living organisms are found on the earth’s surface. Strand: Technology/Engineering Engineering Design •
Grades Pre-‐K-‐2 Technology/Engineering#2.2: Describe how human beings use parts of the body as tools (e.g., teeth for cutting), and compare their use with the ways in which animals use those parts of their bodies. Hitchcock Center for the Environment 525 South Pleasant Street, Amherst, MA 01002 www.hitchcockcenter.org | 413-‐256-‐6006