All about insects
In this webinar, join Greta Dromgool as she introduces Tom Saunders and Chrissie Painting – two of Aotearoa New Zealand’s amazing entomologists. Delve into the fascinating world of insects and the important learning that can happen if we include them in our classrooms and educational settings.
Students are naturally curious about the world around them and insects offer stimulating material with which teachers can feed that curiosity and grow their students' science knowledge and capabilities.
From observation and classification to life cycles, adaptations and social scientific issues, insects offer it all. Join us to discover engaging resources to support your science teaching.
This session is valuable for both primary and secondary school teachers.
All about insects
This is an edited recording of the PLD webinar All about insects.
Thank you very much. That was very interesting. Looking forward to the next webinar
All about insects – slideshow
This slideshow, from the webinar All about insects, provides additional support for the video tutorial.
Use the Slideshow menu for further options, including view full screen, and go here for the download option.
You can download the video and slideshow presentation.
Index
| Topic | Slideshownumber(s ) | Video timecode |
|---|---|---|
Introducing the Science Learning Hub and presenters | 1–7 | 00:00 |
Index | 2 | 00:23 |
Weird and wonderful insects | 8 | 02:50 |
What is an insect? | 9–12 | 07:10 |
Insect senses | 13–14 | 12:05 |
Life cycles | 15–16 | 17:20 |
Why learn about insects? | 17–18 | 22:12 |
Biodiversity | 19–20 | 23:27 |
The roles of insects | 21–24 | 27:01 |
Getting hands-on | 25–28 | 35:56 |
Insects and other learning areas | 29–33 | 39:23 |
SLH links, keep in touch and thanks | 34–36 | 40:56 |
Related content
These Buzz in the Garden activities support students to get outside and observe insects.
Check out these resources that unpack how teachers might use the Super Insect cards as a springboard for further exploration and learning.
Dr Chrissie Painting authored the following resources:
Animal dispersal – article
Spiderling ballooning – article
Spider parachutes – activity
Citizen scientists – join the New Zealand Mosquito Census and help scientists at Te Papa learn more about the various mosquitoes in Aotearoa and their important role in the food chain. You could also help DNA Drive collect insect DNA from car number plates to help measure the distribution and biodiversity of insects in Aotearoa.
In this article read about the role of science communication and listen to an interview about the imporatnce of the Bug of the Year competition from the podcast, Kia Pākiki Canterbury.
Discover more of our resources on insects or explore the range of content under our Invertebrates topic.
See our We love bugs! Pinterest boards for links to more resources and community activities.
Useful links
Useful sites for insect identification include Manaaki Whenua's What’s this bug? and iNaturalist NZ.
Dr Chrissie Painting also shared a link to this citizen science project run through Victoria University. You can find out how to join here.
The Entomological Society of New Zealand was formed to provide a common meeting ground for everyone interested in entomology in New Zealand. It aims to stimulate interest, encourage amateurs and promote the profession of entomology. It runs the annual Bug of the Year contest.
Acknowledgement
The Science Learning Hub would like to thank Dr Chrissie Painting and Tom Saunders.
