Butterfly Research: Project-Based Learning

Challenge:

How can we engage today's 

modern learner in learning?

One of the ways we approached this challenge was to move away from teaching isolated subjects that could easily be "Googled" and engaged project-based learning for our students.

PROJECT OVERVIEW:

• Students will study the life cycle and needs of butterflies in order to create butterfly garden on the EPiC campus.

DRIVING QUESTION:

• How can we as butterfly experts and landscapers create an environment for butterflies to thrive at EPiC?

Learning Outcomes/Targets (Missouri Learning Standards):

• Identify and sequence life cycles (birth, growth, and development, reproduction and death) of animals (i.e., butterfly, frog, chicken, snake, dog).
• Identify and relate the similarities and differences among animal parents and their offspring or multiple offspring.
• Ask and answer questions such as who, what, where, when, why and how to demonstrate understanding of key details and in a text.
• Recall information from experiences or gather information from provided sources to answer questions.
• Construct maps with title and key
• Explain how specific images (e.g. a diagram showing how a machine works) contribute to and clarify a text.

AUTHENTIC PRODUCT:

• Redesigning a garden on campus into Butterfly Garden

PUBLIC AUDIENCE:

• All of Liberty and any visitors to our school

After writing a persuasive letter asking for permission to redesign the garden, students meet with the principal to discuss possibilities:

Research on the butterfly lifecycle:

Working with Liberty High School students surveying the space:

Deepening learning about butterflies through movement:

Exploring the butterfly habitat: