Children investigate the life cycle of a monarch.We started with the larvae on milkweed. We focused our lessons on a small set of big ideas. What are the attributes of a caterpillar? of a butterfly? What do they share in common? How do we know? Is seeing transparent or do we have to tell others how we know? What are the functions of different body parts? How does the organism change? How can we represent change? How is the life cycle of the monarch the same and different than that of other organisms, like plants or crickets?

• Attributes - What defines an attribute (characteristics) of growth? What can be seen as evidence for an attribute?

• Change - As organisms experience different stages of the life cycle, what are the different transformations and morphological events observed? How can we define a morphological attribute, like a mouthpart? What is evidence of change in that attribute?

• Behavior - What is behavior? What is the range of behavior for an organism? How does the behavior change throughout the life cycle?

• Structure-Function Relations - What are the functions of different body parts? How do these change during the life cycle? (Can the same function be accomplished by different structures?)

• Comparisons - What are significant similarities and differences in the life cycles of different organisms?

   

• Background/Foundation

• Attributes/Evidence of Change

• Transformations