Bugs

Beetles and spiders and ants, oh my! Are there budding entomologists among your students? Here are some links to information about your favorite creepy (and crawly and flying) creatures. Some sites provide information on insects and their kin for students, others include lesson plans for teachers. (ECB also provides excellent video resources on bugs for Wisconsin teachers.)

Instructional Video Series for Wisconsin Teachers

The Minibeast World of Insects, from the Young Entomologists' Society, features information for both teachers and students. Topics included are insect activities and projects, information on careers in entomology, quizzes, and a research library. The Minibeast Museum has information on arthropod classification and identification, as well as trivia and folklore about insects.

The Iowa State University Department of Entomology Web site offers some fun features for students, such as an interactive grasshopper dissection, and an image gallery with color photos of many bugs.

The University of Arizona presents Using Live Insects in Elementary Classrooms for Early Lessons in Life. This site features 20 integrated lessons with science and math activities that use live insects. It also includes information sheets about insects including ants, crickets, praying mantids, stink bugs, and more, as well as tips for feeding and caring for insects in the classroom. The site is also available in Spanish.

Katerpillars and Mystery Bugs provides information and games for children. Created by the University of Kentucky Entomology Department, the site also includes a section for teachers that includes entomology newsletters and lesson plans.

The American Field Guide from the Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) features short video clips of many bugs. Click on "Insects" to find a list of videos.

The Smithsonian Department of Entomology provides Bug Info, a collection of information sheets on many insect topics.

Beetle Science, from Cornell University, includes neat features such very detailed close-up images and rotatable images of beetles.

The National Audubon Society BugGuide site offers online field guides. Users can select a type of insect or spider from a list, then see a photograph and detailed description including its food, life cycle, habitat, and habits. Students also can enter the name of a bug to search the database, or use the advanced search function to search by color, size, habitat, or region.

Yucky Roach World, from Discovery's Yuckiest Site on the Internet, contains information about cockroach habits and anatomy presented in colorful "yucky" style.

Alien Empire from the PBS program Nature examines the "bizarre, fascinating world of insects." Some of the multimedia features cover the anatomy of a bee, the life cycle of a mayfly, life in a honeybee hive, and the habits of monarch butterflies.

Orkin Learning Center for kids and teachers has a Pest Library, hands-on activities, lesson plans, creative modules, and information about many bugs. There is also an Orkin Activity Bug Book in PDF format.

The Agripedia Insect Identification site, from the University of Kentucky, provides photographs and information about pests and beneficial insects. Students can click on a small photo of an insect to see a larger photograph and brief information on the creature.

The Bugscope project is an educational outreach program for K-12 classrooms. Classrooms may remotely operate a scanning electron microscope to image "bugs" at high magnification. The microscope is remotely controlled in real time from a classroom computer over the Internet using a Web browser. Classrooms design their own experiment and provide their own bugs to be imaged in the microscope.

The Tree of Life project provides a graphic guide to the categorization of different animals. Students can click on "Popular Pages" then on "Arthropoda," "Insects" or "arachnids". Photographs and information about many insects and arachnids are available.

Insect Biology and Ecology is a brief introduction to insects from Cornell University. As a part of their Biological Control site, it focuses on the role of insects in agriculture.

Mosquito Biology, from Rutgers University, introduces the anatomy, life cycle, and habits of the mosquito. The site includes several video clips of mosquito behavior.

Myrmecology provides information about the scientific study of ants. It includes sections on habitat, biology, and recommended reading.

Tarantulas is from National Geographic and gives a multimedia look at the anatomy and life cycle of this spider.

Butterflies: On the Wings of Freedom is a student-produced Web site that provides both a general introduction and detailed information on butterflies. The "Butterflies for Children" section provides simple information for younger students, while other sections include detailed information, photographs, and video on topics such as the construction of scales and butterfly behavior.

The U.S. Geological Services (USGS) presents Butterflies of North America, which offers distribution maps, photographs, and information about butterfly species. Students can search for butterflies by state, or browse thumbnail photographs to identify a specimen they have found.

The Butterfly Farmer Web site from a farm in Costa Rica includes a students' guide to butterflies and many photographs.

The Butterfly Pavilion is a zoo in Colorado dedicated to butterflies and other invertebrates. The Web site provides photographs and brief information about many species of butterflies.

Instructional Video Series for Wisconsin Teachers
Wisconsin teachers may tape these programs for classroom use. Click on each link to find information about the program, teacher guide and broadcast schedule from the ECB Instructional Database.

Butterflies from Backyard Safari (grades 1-3)

Bugs from Reading Rainbow (grades 1-4)

The Life Cycle of the Honeybee from Reading Rainbow (grades 1-4)

Nature Watch Digest (grades 2-6)

Animals and How they Live (grades 5-8)

Nature's Recycling Squad from Passport to the Rainforest (grades 5-9)

Arthropods from The Biology of... (grades 9-12)

Big World of Insects,Spiders and Bugs (grades 4-8)

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