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The Arizona STEM Acceleration Project

Butterfly Challenge

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Butterfly Challenge

A 1st Grade STEM Lesson

Fannie Hunt

March 2023

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Notes for Teachers

  • This lesson takes place in the classroom for 2 (50 min. ) sessions.
  • Students may work in groups of 2-4 or with a partner.
  • An emphasis on life cycle of a butterfly and creating a lightweight butterfly.
  • Creative solutions should be encouraged.
  • Facilitate students reflection as to the process they went through with creating their butterfly.

List of Materials

  • pipe cleaners
  • tissue paper
  • stopwatch
  • construction paper
  • tape
  • scissors
  • glue

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Standards

Arizona Science Standard:

1.L1U1.6 Observe, describe, and predict life cycles of animals and plants.

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Science and Engineering Practices:

  • ask questions and define problems
  • develop and use models
  • plan and carry out investigations

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Crosscutting Concepts:

  • structure and function
  • scale, proportion, and quantity

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ELA:

1.RI.10 With prompting and support, read informational texts, including functional texts, history/social studies, science, and technical texts, appropriately complex for grade 1.

2.RI.1 Ask and answer questions such as who, what, where, why, and how about key details in a text.

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Mathematical Practices:

6.MP.5 Use appropriate tools strategically.

6.MP.6 Attend to precision.

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Objectives:

  • Today we will learn about the life cycle of a butterfly.
  • Today we will collaborate and communicate effectively with our peers to create a butterfly that will remain in the air for the greatest amount of time when dropped from a given height.

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Agenda (1-2 science sessions)

  • 1-2 minutes for drawing of prior knowledge of a life cycle of a butterfly.
  • The video 1 is 4.17 mins. and video 2 is 2.28 mins.
  • 2-3 minutes to draw another life cycle of a butterfly after watching the video.
  • 5 minutes to construct their model
  • remaining time is for testing and reconstructing of the model
  • 1-2 minutes for safety and behavior expectations

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Intro

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  1. The teacher will show pictures of different butterflies and will ask the students what they see.
  2. Teacher will then ask the students: Do you know how a butterfly begins its life?
  3. The teacher will group the students and will have them draw what they think how the butterfly started.
  4. Upon gathering the results, the teacher will have the students watch the video link 1 Metamorphosis.
  5. After watching the video, the students will look at their drawing from earlier and will draw another life cycle of a butterfly based on the video watched.
  6. The teacher will have students watch video link 2 Butterfly wings.

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Hands-on Activity Instructions

  • 2-5 groups or by partners for small class
  • Step-by-step instructions
  • Using the materials provided, create a butterfly.
  • Once done, the butterfly will be dropped at a certain height set by the teacher.
  • Use the timer to determine which butterfly will remain in the air for the greatest amount of time.
  • There will be two trials. 1st trial is when they test their butterfly. The 2nd trial is when they will modify their model.
  • Images may be helpful to show how things are setup.

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Assessment

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Differentiation

Students who struggle with understanding the life cycle of a butterfly can rewatch videos or be given a sequencing activity.

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Provide sentence frames or stems as needed.

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Create a word wall with key vocabulary and images.

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Remediation

Extension/Enrichment

Extension:

What do bees and butterflies both love? Flowering plants of course! Go further with the learning experience with a challenge that focuses on the science of plant development and an engineering design project— The Botany STEM Challenge.

Create window greenhouses to grow live plants, learn about the pioneering botanist, Dr. Katherine Esau, and design a device to transport the little plants home.