This activity is a field investigation where students collect insects to analyze, observe, and classify

This Informational text focuses on the migration habits of the grasshopper/locust and the gray whale.

Scientists rely on Citizen Scientists to track the migration of the monarch butterflies as they journey north from Mexico and back again. This amazing pollinator begins its fall migration from August to November and spring migration from March to June. Students can follow migration news, see the real-time mapping of the butterfly's movements, and report their own sightings with this amazing project from the University of Wisconsin - Madison Arboretum.

This fun Web site is part of OLogy, where kids can collect virtual trading cards and create projects with them. Here, they take a close-up look at biodiversity in a city park. The site opens by telling kids that, despite appearances, a great deal of biodiversity exists in cities. That from tiny mites to mighty trees, thousands of species thrive there. It then takes them to a slice of life from a thriving city park, where they are asked to find 10 hidden critters living alongside the trees, plants, and insects. Each time they locate one of the tiny critters, they are rewarded with a quick look at its importance to the habitat.

Thousands of orange and black shapes flutter through the trees. Welcome to one of the few wintering homes of the monarch butterfly. Also in: Spanish

This video segment from NOVA: "The Mystery of Animal Pathfinders" explores the migratorial exploits of monarch butterflies.

The students will listen to and discuss books about butterflies and the migration of monarch butterflies to Mexico in order to integrate science, social studies, and language arts.

Creepy crawlers, hoppers, and fliers are the focus of this lesson in which students chorally read poems about insects and use the Internet to locate facts about their assigned insects.

Hartmut Doebel is an Assistant Professor of Biology at The George Washington University. His students have bee hives on the roof of the campus in downtown Washington, DC.

In this field exploration, student teams (consisting of 3 students) will investigate whetherincandescent, fluorescent or a no light situation will attract the most nocturnal insects.

This illustrated guide (dorsal view) to a male spider is designed to help students recognize and learn its common and unique body parts. The single Web page, which can be easily printed for use at field sites or in the lab, also includes a short description for the following labeled parts: chelicera pedipalp anterior eye row posterior eye row cephalothorax (or prosoma) pedicel abdomen (or opisthosoma) spinnerets coxa trochanter femur patella tibia metatarsus tarsus.

This illustrated guide (ventral view) to a female spider is designed to help students recognize and learn its common and unique body parts. The single Web page, which can be easily printed for use at field sites or in the lab, also includes a short description for the following labeled parts: chelicera fang endite labium sternum coxa lung slit epigynum spinnerets.

This illustrated guide to a grasshopper is designed to help students recognize and learn the body parts of an insect. The single Web page, which can be easily printed for use at field sites or in the lab, also includes a short description for the following labeled parts: head thorax antenna abdomen spiracles coxa trochanter femur tibia tarsus genitalia wings.

In this video segment from NatureScene, observe dragonflies and mayflies near Cedar Creek at Congaree Swamp National Park.

In this video segment adapted from NOVA, learn about the critical role of flowers in seed plant reproductive biology.

Featuring slow-motion footage of insects in flight, this video adapted from NOVA explores the engineering challenge of designing a robotic aerial vehicle that flies like a bug.

This online article is from the Museum's Seminars on Science, a series of distance-learning courses designed to help educators meet the new national science standards. Spotlight on Spiders, part of The Study of Spiders seminar, profiles six species of spiders.

During this activity, students will learn how environmental engineers monitor water quality in resource use and design. They will employ environmental indicators to assess the water quality of a nearby stream. Students will make general observations of water quality as well as count the number of macroinvertabrates. They will then use the information they collected to create a scale to rate how good or bad the water quality of the stream. Finally, the class will compare their numbers and discuss and defend their results.

From pygmy shrews to armadillos, a wide range of mammals survive on a diet made up largely of insects. Many of these have fascinating adaptations suited to catching or rooting out their prey. In this unit you will learn about these adaptations, along with