Butterflies Are Great Teachers: The South Carolina Butterfly Project

Abstract

In 1995, The National Education Goals Report stated that “By the year 2000, United States students will be first in the world in mathematics and science achievement” (National Education Goals Panel 1995). Despite a tremendous amount of curricular change that followed that report, studies continue to indicate that, on average, students in the United States score lower on science achievement tests than do students in other developed countries (Schmidt 2000). Conclusions of several educational review panels (Project 2061/AAAS 1993, National Education Goals Panel 1995, National Research Council 1996, Schmidt et al. 1999) and research studies (Chiapette 1997, Edwards 1997, Bruno and Chase 1998, Gibbs and Fox 1999) suggest that the differences in students’ science test scores are due to an overemphasis on content in K-12 education in the United States at the expense of process skills and critical thinking abilities, both of which are integrated into instructional activities in most other developed countries. Use of garden-based instructional activities has been proposed as an effective way to teach content material using an approach that emphasizes analytical and critical thinking skills in K-12 science education (Coffee and Rivkin 1998, Eick 1998, Glanville 1998, Palopoli 1998, Pyle et al. 1998, Laubenthal 1999). The South Carolina Butterfly Project was initiated in 1997 with support from the South Carolina Commission on Higher Education and a group of corporate sponsors. The project was developed in conjunction with several elementary school teachers, and continues to incorporate teacher input into project activities. The initial project objective was to develop ways to incorporate butterfly garden activities in science education. This manuscript describes the process of developing this project, the roles of those involved, potential pitfalls in establishing a teaching Butterflies Are Great Teachers: The South Carolina Butterfly Project