Chihuahuan Desert Insect Trap Activity

Content Area | Standards | Implementation | Resources | Entry Skills | Evaluation | Conclusion

Introduction

The Chihuahuan Desert is the easternmost, southernmost, and largest North American desert. For background information on the Chihuahuan Desert go to:

• The Chihuahuan Desert
• An Introduction to the Chihuahuan Desert
• Chihuahuan Desert Resources on the Web
• El Paso Online Bio Project
• The Chihuahuan Desert through time

The purpose of this activity is to have the students investigate the habits and behaviors of various small animals of the Chihuahuan Desert. Your students will be building simple pitfall traps. This lesson should be done only if you can get to your field site on a daily basis.

Student Outcomes

• Students will be working in small groups.
• Students will record quantitative information.
• Students will illustrate observations.
• Students will discuss their findings in a large group.
• Students will discuss biodiversity in the Chihuahuan Desert.

Content Area and Grade Levels

This lesson can be used with second graders and up. The teacher will have to present the concept of biodiversity. The teacher will also need to model the use of identification guides and the equipment used in this lesson.

Standards

Science Standards

• Standard 1 - Understands basic features of the Earth.
• Standard: 7 - Understands how species depend on one another and on the environment for survival.
• Standard: 4 - Knows about the diversity and unity that characterize life.
• Standard: 14 - Understands the nature of scientific knowledge.
• Standard: 15 - Understands the nature of scientific inquiry.

Thinking and Reasoning Standards

• Standard: 3 - Effectively uses mental processes that are based on identifying similarities and differences (compares, contrasts, classifies).
• Standard: 4 - Understands and applies basic principles of hypothesis testing and scientific inquiry.

Implementation Overview

This lesson is set up for use in one class with a minimum duration of twenty minutes. You must do the activity on a daily basis, so that captured insects and small animals can be released. Students will work in small groups. They will record their findings and observations. This lesson can be part of a larger project or stand alone as a project in itself, but should always be done in conjunction with biotic and abiotic studies. It is reconmmended that they gather data for a week.

1. The procedures for how to make a pitfall trap follow:
   Select a site
   Make a map to the pitfall trap
   Obtain a fairly large jar (3 in. wide, 6 in. deep)
   Dig a hole and bury the jar so that the rim is level with the ground surface
   Place a piece of wood over the top of the jar supported on four stones. This board should allow for about an inch of space above the jar mouth. This will let insects and small animals to fall in the trap, but prevent predators from getting to them.
2. The procedures for using a pitfall trap follow:
   Gather at the site in on a daily basis
   Form groups of four or five students each.
   Have the groups negotiate where to lay down the pitfall trap
   Each group should record what insects and small animals they trap on a daily basis
3. Identify all the insects and small animals in the pitfall trap:
   count the number of insects and small animals
   try to identify each one by using the identification books
   record this information
   draw and label the animals you find evidence of or actually see
4. Debrief the small groups in one large group:
   ask questions about their findings
   compare and contrast data
   ask the students to make inferences and hypothesis

Resources Needed

Each group will need the following materials:

• clipboard, paper and pencils
• Identification guides:
  • Borror, Donald and Richard E. White. A Field Guide to the Insects.The Houghton Mifflin Co., 1970.
  • Selsam, Millicent E.. Where Do They Go Insects in Winter. Four Winds Press, 1982.
  • Stokes, Donald J.. A Guide to Observing Insect Lives. Little, Brown and Co., 1983.
  • MacBean, Stecher, Wentworth, and Couchman. Small Creatures - Examining Your Environment. Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1977.

Entry Level and Skills

Students will need the experience of making observations. Teachers will need some experience in organizing students and keeping them on task.

Evaluation

Students can be evaluated on observational skills, on group collaboration and participation, on effective use of time, and on their preservation of information for future use or reference. Students can also use forms of self and peer evaluations. For further methods of assessment or evaluation, see the National Science Standards of Assessment.

Conclusion

This lesson will teach students how to collect data, how to analyze, organize and present information to others.

This lesson created by Miriam Martínez and DoloresVarela-Phillips, Los Padillas Elementary School.