Jessica Wright –
Live streaming returns this program to students.
The most popular butterflies in the garden program are back this year but in a slightly different format. Instead of thousands of students coming to the curiosity class and the butterfly laboratory, we brought them to the classroom and the laboratory via a live stream this spring. More than 40 classrooms around Michigan and Ohio have found butterflies in their classrooms or homes in a new way. Each field trip begins with a lesson on the butterfly’s life cycle and physical activity. Then we looked closely at the butterflies under a digital microscope. After these explorations at the Butterfly Laboratory, it was time for students to see the butterflies in our 4-h children’s garden. When we went to the butterfly area, we talked to the students about what we wanted in the garden and reminded them of butterfly behavior.
As we entered the indoor 4-H Children’s Garden, we took the lessons to the Christmas nursery to see butterflies pop up and learn about metamorphosis. Then we hunted caterpillars and butterfly eggs. Each field trip had to fly at least a dozen different butterflies and see flowers. Many sections saw the proboscis of the butterfly pushing into the flower, and even a few began to see the tree frogs of our inhabitants. Field trips are complete for question and answer time. I had many questions in each classroom. And “Where do the butterflies sleep?” While this year’s butterfly program may look a lot different than before, it was wonderful to be able to share the garden and the butterflies in a new way. If you want to experience a virtual butterfly field trip, watch the pre-recorded field trip videos on YouTube at https://youtu.be/Nkg3mDfiGN8.
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