Who Is the Hardest Working Insect at Our School?

Goal: (Science and Language Arts integration)To identify the types of work and survival skills used by insects found on school property in order to use persuasive writing and speaking techniques to convince their classmates that the insect they have investigated is the hardest worker.

Students: 23 Gifted students in grades 3-5

Prior Knowledge: Effective strategies for persuasive writing and speaking (Lang. Arts); Kagen's Inside/Outside Circle technique (Cooperative Learning and Community interaction)

The students will be given digital cameras to take pictures of various insects they have observed on the school campus. They will be instructed not to touch or disturb the insect, only photograph and observe the work habits and survival skills of the insect during a designated length of time. During the observation process, they will take notes about the work habits and methods of survival used by the insect.
Students will return to the classroom with their photos to load the pictures and information onto their USB drives in the computer lab in order to complete and save further research on their insect.
The research information, photos and diagrams of insects will be transferred to Presentation Folders for students to reference and display during their cicle presentation.

Public speaking skills will be used through the use of a Kagan Strategy, a modification of the "Inside-Outside Circle". The students will divide themselves into two groups, making two circles with partners facing each other. The Outside circle partner will attempt to convince the other facing partner that his insect is the hardest workerby using the photos and information collected. The partners will rotate and change places so that every student has a chance to try to persuade the class that his insect deserves the title of "Hardest Worker".
At the end of the circle activity, the students will use critical thinking and evaluation skills and vote independently as to which person was most convincing about their insect. (They may not vote for themselves.)The votes will be tallied and the winning insect and researcher will have their photos and informational research displayed on the Media Center bulletin board deeming that insect "The Hardest Worker On Campus."