Field Investigation: Comparing Adult to Offspring

Students compare and contrast the adult and offspring of a butterfly species, and then they explore the outdoor classroom to find and observe it, identify it, determine if it is an adult or offspring.

 
Click on the orange links to access free educational materials:

Lesson Plans   |   ALSDE Standards Taught
 
Activity Page #1: Monarch Adult & Offspring (or as Word Doc)

Activity Page #2: Black Swallowtail Adult & Offspring (or as Word Doc) with Answer Page #2 
 
Outdoor Activity Materials:  activity pages, clipboards, pencils, magnifying glasses, and copies of field identification guides such as National Audubon Society Field Guide to the Southeastern States

 

















 
Step 1: Engage through Discussion
     
Engage the students and capture their interests with an Interactive Q&A (or as PDF) that allows you to click through the questions one at a time.  You can gauge your students' understanding of the topic as they answer the questions. Print and use the Q&A Info Sheet (or as Word Doc) to anticipate the next question in the Interactive Q&A and to guide the conversation with the students.  (Note:  For the PowerPoint (PPT), click "Slide Show" & "From Beginning" to display the questions and answers separately.)
 
Use these tools to continue the discussion:
 
 
 
Step 2: Explore with Literature
   
As you read these books, you can further explore the topic and discuss your students' experiences and knowledge around the topic: 

Monarch Butterfly by Gail Gibbons (ISBN-10:0823409090)
Read Aloud by Mary Ellen Ariotti on YouTube (13 min)

From Caterpillar to Butterfly (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out-Science 1) by Deborah Heiligman (ISBN-978-0062381835)  
Read Aloud by Mary Ellen Ariotti on YouTube (8 min)

From Tadpole to Frog (Let's-Read-and-Find-Out-Science 1) by Wendy Pfeffer (ISBN-978-0062381866)

 
Monarch Butterfly
 
From Caterpillar to Butterfly by Deborah Heiligman
 
 

   
Step 3: Explain with Educational Videos
   
Use these educational videos to help explain the topic in more detail:
This is What Newborn Animals Look Like by Mind Warehouse  (2:56 min.) 
@ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JHRwkWqxo9M		 Baby Animals Who Grow Up to Look Totally Different  (2:18 min.)
@ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0TkOoakcP0
















 
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Step 4: Elaborate with a Field Investigation in the Outdoor Classroom
 
Students apply what they have learned as they investigate the topic in your outdoor classroom and record their real-world observations on their activity page: 
 
Version #1:
Monarch Butterfly		 Version #2:
Black Swallowtail Butterfly
Activity Tips
  • Review the Outdoor Classroom Rules with students before going outside.
  • Conduct this activity in the warm months of spring or fall as there are a greater variety of species going through reproduction at that time.  Some examples of animals that you may be able to view at different stages of development are birds and their chicks in a nesting box, caterpillars and adult butterflies in your butterfly/pollinator habitat, worker ants and their larva near an ant hill, or a frog/toad and its tadpoles in a pond. 
 

Version #1 - Comparing Adult to Offspring: Monarch Butterfly
Activity Page: PDF (as is)  /  Word Doc (editable)

Procedure
Indoor Discussion:
  1. Use the AWF's Wonders of Wildlife: Monarch Butterfly webpage to discuss the similarities and differences between the appearance of a monarch butterfly and monarch caterpillar.
  2. Students should answer the questions on the Monarch Butterfly Adult and Offspring Activity Page and record their observations.
  3. Use the AWF's Dig Into Plants: Common Milkweed Webpage to learn how to identify the host plant for the monarch butterfly and caterpillar to help you find the monarch butterflies and caterpillars in your outdoor classroom. 
Outdoor Discovery:
  1. Have the students look around the outdoor classroom to confirm their research.
  2. Students should search for milkweed where they may find monarch caterpillars.
  3. Have the students look around the outdoor classroom for adult monarch butterflies.
Indoor Discussion:
  1. Afterward, discuss where monarch butterflies and caterpillars were found in the outdoor classroom.
  2. Discuss the physical similarities and differences between monarch butterflies and caterpillars.
  3. Discuss how ALL animals have similarities and differences between parents and offspring.

Version #2 - Comparing Adult to Offspring: Black Swallowtail
Activity Page: PDF (as is)  /  Word Doc (editable)

Procedure
Indoor Discussion:
  1. Use the AWF's Wonders of Wildlife: Black Swallowtail webpage to discuss the similarities and differences between the appearance of a black swallowtail butterfly and black swallowtail caterpillar.
  2. Students should answer the questions on the Black Swallowtail Adult and Offspring Activity Page and record their observations.
  3. Use the AWF's Dig Into Plants: Bronze Fennel Webpage to learn more about the habitat requirements for Black Swallowtail Butterflies. 
Outdoor Discovery:
  1. Have the students look around the outdoor classroom to confirm their research.
  2. Students should search for fennel where they may find black swallowtail caterpillars.
  3. Have the students look around the outdoor classroom for adult black swallowtail butterflies.
Indoor Discussion:
  1. Afterward, discuss where black swallowtail butterflies and caterpillars were found in the outdoor classroom.
  2. Discuss the physical similarities and differences between black swallowtial butterflies and caterpillars.
  3. Discuss how ALL animals have similarities and differences between parents and offspring.
 
Wildlife Identification Resources:
 
 
Step 5: Evaluate with an Assessment Activity
   
Review and assess the students’ observations and answers on their observation pages:
 
Evaluate the students' understanding of the topic with the following assessment tool:
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Questions? Contact us at oc@alabamawildlife.org. .