CNC Butterfly Festival
In July, I took part in the Chattahoochee Nature Center's Butterfly Festival. It sounded like a great way of spending a Saturday: outside, taking part in a community activity and, best of all, watching the butterfly release.
Imagine an eruption of Monarch butterflies pouring from a large wooden box. It's something you want to see for yourself.
The Chattahoochee Nature Center (CNC) does this every year to educate children about the Monarch lifecycle. They used something called the "Migration Game" to make the educational aspect fun. Along a trail through the woods, stations were set up where children learned about one stage of the Monarch lifecycle. At each stage, there were live examples of Monarchs (eggs, caterpillars, chrysali and adults) and an experiential activity where the child could pretend to be the insect.
When I signed up, I was emailed material about the butterflies including some basic FAQs and other information about monarch butterflies. Of course, I didn't have much time to do more than quickly review the information, despite my good intentions. It would have helped to have known my assigned station beforehand. That way I could have memorized the three or five FAQs related to that station rather than trying to review the entire sheet. It turned out that I chose my station (chrysali) and will choose the same one next year, so I can be effective.
My task was to engage the kids and try to elicit opinions and thoughts. My strategy for this was to develop a two-second speech and associated questions for different age levels. I'd ask the kids what was happening inside the chrysalis. If they knew, I'd have them tell me. If not, I'd try to explain it to them. Then I'd ask them what they thought was prettier: the chrysalis or the butterfly. (That was a tough question. Monarch chrysali are amazingly beautiful: Jade colored with delicate dots of gold and black. They look more like jewelry than insects.) If they were a little older, I'd ask how, if they were a scientist, could they tell what was happening in there. Nobody could come up with a suggestion, so I'll need to revise it for next year.
Imagine an eruption of Monarch butterflies pouring from a large wooden box. It's something you want to see for yourself.
The Chattahoochee Nature Center (CNC) does this every year to educate children about the Monarch lifecycle. They used something called the "Migration Game" to make the educational aspect fun. Along a trail through the woods, stations were set up where children learned about one stage of the Monarch lifecycle. At each stage, there were live examples of Monarchs (eggs, caterpillars, chrysali and adults) and an experiential activity where the child could pretend to be the insect.
When I signed up, I was emailed material about the butterflies including some basic FAQs and other information about monarch butterflies. Of course, I didn't have much time to do more than quickly review the information, despite my good intentions. It would have helped to have known my assigned station beforehand. That way I could have memorized the three or five FAQs related to that station rather than trying to review the entire sheet. It turned out that I chose my station (chrysali) and will choose the same one next year, so I can be effective.
My task was to engage the kids and try to elicit opinions and thoughts. My strategy for this was to develop a two-second speech and associated questions for different age levels. I'd ask the kids what was happening inside the chrysalis. If they knew, I'd have them tell me. If not, I'd try to explain it to them. Then I'd ask them what they thought was prettier: the chrysalis or the butterfly. (That was a tough question. Monarch chrysali are amazingly beautiful: Jade colored with delicate dots of gold and black. They look more like jewelry than insects.) If they were a little older, I'd ask how, if they were a scientist, could they tell what was happening in there. Nobody could come up with a suggestion, so I'll need to revise it for next year.
posted by Varda Lobanov | 12:38 PM
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