Minibeasts_Concept_1

Why you need to know these facts

Being able to sort and classify using observable similarities and differences is a key skill within science curricula it is particularly emphasised in biology, and working with locally found minibeasts in their natural habitat provides children with the opportunity to work with live specimens, developing appropriate techniques and attitudes Children should be able to use and make sorting diagrams or sorting keys of the type shown in Figure I

Vocabulary

Body segments — the number of clearly defined sections a minibeast has, including the head and/or tail. An insect has three body segments, an arachnid has two.

Key — a questioning device that allows the progressive narrowing down of the classification of an unknown living thing (or object) based on its observable or testable features,

Amazing facts

There are at least 900,000 (80% of the species on the planet) species of insect that have been identified.

Millipedes range in length from 2mm to 29cm long, and have between 36 and 750 legs,

Some midges beat their wings at over 1000 beats per second

The buzzing sounds of flying insects (flies, wasps and so on) are made by their wings.

Common Misconceptions

Caterpillars, millipedes and centipedes are all the same.

At a glance, they may look similar: living tubes with a lot of legs. However, they are quite different. Millipedes and centipede closely related but millipedes have two pairs of legs per body segment while centipedes have one pair per body segment. The walking action of the millipede is almost wave-like, while that of a centipede is more jerky and beetle-like. Caterpillars are not adult creatures at all, but the infant form or larvae of butterflies or moths that will later undergo metamorphosis into the adult form. Not ail of their body segments have legs: the front three segments have true (jointed) legs, and some of the tail segments have jointless pegs or 'prolegs'.The middle sections often have no legs at all,

In fact, the closer you look, the more obviously different these three types of minibeast are in shape, movement, eating habits and habitat.

Questions

How did they all get names?

When a newly discovered type of animal (or plant) is identified, the person who found it gets to name it. The name is usually similar to those of its nearest relatives. However, many familiar types of living thing have names that have become attached to them through common usage. There is a story that the butterfly got its name because of an accidental spoonerism when it was originally categorised several hundred years ago: the original name is reputed to have been 'flutterby', which is an altogether more apt description!

Teaching ideas

Guess who? (questioning, sorting)

This is based on the popular board game. It can be played by pairs of children, with two sets of identical cards made from pictures of various different minibeasts. Each child selects a minibeast, and has to identify the minibeast selected by his or her opponent by asking a series of categorical questions such as Does it have wings? to narrow down the field.

Alternatively, this can be played as a group or class 'Lotto' activity with the minibeast pictures displayed on a laminated poster. The children play in two teams; each team has to guess the other team's minibeast by asking categorical questions. The children can cross off the 'wrong' minibeasts with a dry-wipe marker pen as they narrow down the field. Each team can discuss what will be the best question to ask at each stage.

Who am l? (questioning, sorting)

This is a teacher-led 'Twenty questions' approach. Think of a minibeast (one that you have a good description of, and that the children will be familiar with). Encourage the children to identify it by asking a series of questions, to which you will only answer 'yes' or 'no'. Help them to frame the questions effectively, identify redundant questions and use a 'funnelling' approach to narrow down the field (for example, don't start with 'Is it the caterpillar of a red admiral butterfly?').

Designing a key (questioning, sorting)

Given a few different minibeasts (either pictures or actual specimens), the children should try to think of questions that will allow them to sort and identify the minibeasts as efficiently as possible (see Figure I for examples), Groups can swap keys and pictures to see how well the keys work Each group can then try adding an additional specimen: how does the key need to be adapted?

Using a key (sorting, observing)

Working in groups or individually, the children can use published keys to identify particular specimens that they have found.