To introduce important science big ideas for our students' insect studies. To learn about children's initial understanding of these ideas: change, growth, behavior, and structure/function of body parts.

We expected that students would come with knowledge of insect facts such as number of legs and number of body parts. We thought students would be able to label some insect body parts. We wanted students to learn which features are common to all insects. Our main focus was on learning 1) what children thought about insect features and their functions, and 2) how children could document, ask questions, and offer evidence about these features. Would they separate insects from spiders or keep them in one group? Would they question the purpose of a specific body part? Would they relate any observable behavior to an attribute?

The following outline and documentation of these initial lessons provides the reader with a picture of how we attempted to meet our stated goals. Lesson overviews first offer brief descriptions, timelines and lists materials used. Following the overviews are notes about the initial lessons providing more details about the tasks, conversations and offers samples of childrens?work. A summary is also included as a reflective piece to help us think about our initial goals and plans for the future.

• Lesson One:Insect Discussion and Walk

• Lesson Two: Collecting Insects

• Lesson Three: Drawing and Sorting the Collection

• Summary

Insect studies were designed to introduce children to attributes, identification, and classification. As teachers, we were interested in what these lessons could reveal about children's ideas about structure/function, growth, and behavior. Children became more systematic in making observation, posing questions, and searching for answers. The initial lessons helped children refine and extend their knowledge of insects and set the stage for later in-depth learning. Though the idea of offering evidence to support ideas was new to many, the children quickley became more specific about what they saw and the explanations for their claims. We learned about children's thinking through their questions and statements: "I disagree because..." or "I agree because..." This gave us insight about connections children made in the early lessons.