The Six-Legged Subject: A Survey of Secondary Science Teachers’ Incorporation of Insects into U.S. Life Science Instruction

Erin Ingram,Douglas Golick

doi:10.3390/insects9010032

Abstract

To improve students’ understanding and appreciation of insects, entomology education efforts have supported insect incorporation in formal education settings. While several studies have explored student ideas about insects and the incorporation of insects in elementary and middle school classrooms, the topic of how and why insects are incorporated in secondary science classrooms remains relatively unexplored. Using survey research methods, this study addresses the gap in the literature by (1) describing in-service secondary science teachers’ incorporation of insects in science classrooms; (2) identifying factors that support or deter insect incorporation and (3) identifying teachers’ preferred resources to support future entomology education efforts. Findings indicate that our sample of U.S. secondary science teachers commonly incorporate various insects in their classrooms, but that incorporation is infrequent throughout the academic year. Insect-related lesson plans are commonly used and often self-created to meet teachers’ need for standards-aligned curriculum materials. Obstacles to insect incorporation include a perceived lack of alignment of insect education materials to state or national science standards and a lack of time and professional training to teach about insects. Recommendations are provided for entomology and science education organizations to support teachers in overcoming these obstacles.

Highlights

With more than 900,000 insect species currently described [1], insects represent more than 50%of all animal life on Earth [2]
Survey data were collected from 254 high school life science teachers resulting in a 12.7% response rate
Based on responses from a representative sample of U.S secondary life science teachers, a wide variety of insects are incorporated into life science instruction, but that incorporation generally takes place less than once a month

Summary

Introduction

With more than 900,000 insect species currently described [1], insects represent more than 50%of all animal life on Earth [2]. Despite the complexity and evolutionary success of insects, public understanding and appreciation of insects and other invertebrates remains limited [3,4] and views of insects can often be simplified into “beautiful” or “bothersome” [3] To address this lack of understanding and appreciation for insects and their relatives, entomology education efforts have focused on identifying necessary entomology competencies [5] and providing formal and informal educators with appropriate teaching resources and professional development opportunities [6,7,8]. Science education reform efforts have called for inquiry-based approaches to teaching and learning in the science classroom [9,10]. Live insects can be used to support inquiry-based approaches via laboratory investigations due to their small size, fast reproductive rate, low cost, easy handling, and few associated

Methods

Results

Conclusion