This project about the life cycle of butterflies was inspired by the students of Year 4, when they discovered a small caterpillar in the school garden. It was carefully transferred to the classroom into a small science plastic container that had been transformed into a miniature garden to simulate a caterpillar's native habitat. The box was then covered with filter paper through which it could breath and to which it could attach itself when it began its chrysalis stage. This is an ideal setting for the project to evolve as the caterpillar itself changes into a butterfly. However, most teachers can carry out this project even without the actual caterpillar in the classroom and make up for these by organising field trips to observe caterpillars and butterflies in their natural habitat.

The project focuses on the interactive and participative mode of learning where the children are allowed to browse and search to construct their own knowledge. To avoid the pitfall of aimlessly wandering around and so that these learning sessions lead to genuine learning benefits we are providing a supportive and well-structured environment by:

• Listing aims and objectives
• Providing examples of questions the children ought to be able to answer by the end of the project
• Providing relevant sources of and links to information on the Internet
• Providing the teacher with a list of resources
• Planning various activities both on and away from the class computers.
• Providing a step by step Instruction Cards for the above activities.

Project Plan

The teacher can introduce the topic by asking the children what they already know about butterflies and then proceed to asking them what they would like to know more. The Power Point Presentation  can be shown to the children on a big monitor. The Posters showing the 4 stages of the life cycle and the Flash Cards of the butterfly body parts can also be displayed for reference. The presentation, posters and flashcards can be downloaded from the Teacher Resources page.

Next the children are divided into groups to work out the activities found on the Cross Curricular Activities page. As there are a lot of varied activities it is best that these be planned on a long term basis. This way the teacher can dedicate either a time slot for each day or a particular day in each week for these activities. Each activity has an Instruction Card to complement it, this way each group may work independently of the teacher by reading and following the specific instructions and only refer back to the teacher in case of difficulty. This will the teacher may be able to monitor and manage all the activities going on at the same time. The activities are online and desktop publishing activities as well as table activities or a bit of both. The software used is that found in the Year 4 classroom of the Primary State schools: Kid Pix Deluxe and Print Shop Premier 5.  It is best that the teacher goes through all the activities thoroughly so that:

• she will know exactly what the children are expected to do
• to select the best suited children for specific activities
• to print out any resources necessary for the activities
• to download and store on the class computers the on-screen activities or electronic resources needed
• to check the websites the children will be accessing and maybe even store these addresses on the Favourites menu.

When the project is completed, the teacher may organise an exhibition or a display board of the printed work at school. If any teacher finds difficulty or does not have the necessary equipment to download any of the material needed for the project, he/she may contact me at the address or email below and the material can be provided on CD. I am also offering classroom support to any teacher to carry out this project. All the work and photographs of the children will be uploaded in the section Projects in Schools.

I may be contacted:
by email
catherine.carabott@gov.mt

by telephone
2598 2324/2805

by mail:
Ms Catherine Carabott
Department of Technology in Education
ICT Learning Centre
Floriana.