For Educators and Parents
As both a parent and an educator – both at the college level and as a homeschooling father – I understand and appreciate the importance of integrating fun and learning. I think that live butterfly gardens – even if they are as simple as purchasing a live butterfly kit from Insect Lore – can be a fantastic way to get kids thinking about both science and environmental issues.
And, as you might guess from the writing throughout A Live Butterfly Garden, I think there are important spiritual and philosophical issues that butterflies and butterfly gardens can help us address.
It was tempting – it is still tempting! – to create my own live butterfly lesson plans, but the truth is, there are a lot of perfectly good ones already out there. I designed this page as a sort of work in progress for teachers and homeschoolers to link them up with some programs and plans and people that can help them get the most out of butterfly gardening.
There’s a lot of material out there, and not all of it is good. I say that carefully because I don’t want to hurt anybody’s feelings. It’s easy to write a few hundred words about how cool learning about butterflies is. I’ve done it myself. But to actually put together a lesson plan – something an educator can take in hand and put to use – well, that’s a lot harder.
My standards for including a plan on this page are pretty simple. The lesson plans need to be inclusive – that is, they aren’t just ideas but actual rubrics which you can put into application with a minimum of effort. I’m also looking – because I tend to think in terms of kids and butterflies – for projects that are fun, and that usually involves some “in the field” kind of work.
Finally, I look for some method of evaluation – both of student progress and work, and for the project itself. I’m a big fan of assessment and I think it needs to be a two-way street.
If you think I’m missing anything – or if you’ve got something you’d like to see added – drop me a line via my contact page and let me know. I love looking over new material and I am always happy to talk butterflies.
LEARNING TO GIVE
Learning to Give is a Michigan-based service learning initiative that links education with philanthropy, service and a focus on the common good. I like their focus on harnessing the natural optimism and energy of young people and encouraging them to solve big problems.
You can tap into their Monarch butterfly garden in this lesson, or you can take a gander at the bigger project of which it is one part – saving the Monarch.
This lesson – care of Science NetLinks – is a little on the dry side, but I think it touches on the important details. I think this would work better for parents who are working with their own kids, or small groups of kids, as opposed to an entire classroom. You will need to be a bit creative in terms of fleshing it out.
Like the Learning to Give lesson, this is just one part of a larger butterfly education project. You can tackle the garden, or you can delve into their complete package regarding the whole butterfly life cycle.
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