When I was teaching in the public school, my favorite unit to teach was entomology. Now that I homeschool, I have come to realize how much I miss teaching others and exploring our natural world together. While my children and I actively engage in nature studies regularly, we have not been very consistent in incorporating more in-depth science studies into our curriculum. I have discovered that I am more accountable when I provide opportunities to our fellow homeschooling community. For this reason, I have decided to open this course to anyone interested in learning about insects along with us.
I have designed this unit so students will develop an appreciation for the diversity of insects in their local area as well as an understanding of the greater diversity the world over. Participants will have the opportunity to use an identification or dichotomous key. The course is open to all ages but the content is geared towards middle level students – parents and families are welcome to join in on the fun. Any prior knowledge about insects is appreciated but not required.
The unit includes several labs and research assignments in addition to a long-term project. I will communicate weekly whereby I share videos and other media showcasing specific lessons and activities designed to teach insect anatomy, scientific classification, ecology, and inquiry. I will also provide research suggestions, resources for study, and experiment ideas.
See the course outline here, Entomology Course Outline.
Participants will have the opportunity to participate in class discussions, contribute to data collection as citizen scientists, and do independent research on topics of interest. Participants in the course are expected to keep a field journal or notebook of their work. Participants are also encouraged to come up with their own project ideas (videos, PowerPoints, art projects, field trips, photography, and more).
This free course will be six weeks in length and is scheduled to begin in May. For those interested in taking part, I ask that you subscribe to the Entomology Online Workshop newsletter via MailChimp. You can find the subscription link in the right sidebar. Upon receiving the verification email, you’ll want to click on “manage your preferences” and choose the list topics of interest to you; Entomology Online Workshop is listed as one option. I will then provide the necessary weblinks and/or pass codes required to access the course materials (via GoogleDocs, Flickr, and Project Noah) when the course begins next month.
Participants will have the opportunity to share documents via GoogleDocs, write blog posts (optional), and submit photographs of student work via Flickr. Participants are also encouraged to collaborate with one another via my classroom on Project Noah. Parents are expected to partner with younger children to read over and edit student presentations, checking for grammatical errors. Students working independently are asked to use spelling and grammar checks before submitting work.
Each family or student that will be making home videos (strongly recommended) about class projects and activities should have a family or individual YouTube account. You can either use an already established account or start a new one for the class. Students wanting their own account must be 13 years old. Any videos made for class can then be uploaded to YouTube and the link given to me. Families are responsible for setting up desired privacy settings.
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Karen
March 26, 2018 at 2:42 pm
I discovered that my fiance’s name was a Insect identification. I would like a course on the identification.
Eva Varga
April 18, 2018 at 8:41 am
Hi Karen, What a cool discovery! I am now offering this online course through Outschool. The lesson materials are also available as an eBook.
Dipak Kumar Swain
June 25, 2018 at 7:13 pm
Dear Maam, I am Dr Dipak Kumar Swain, working as an consultant entomologist at ROHFW, Bhubaneswar and wants certificate course on Entomology.
requesting you to know about the course detail fees structure and validity of the certificate etc.
Regards
Eva Varga
June 26, 2018 at 12:24 pm
I am sorry, Sir. This course is designed with elementary and middle school students in mind. It does not provide professional certification.
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