Schoolchildren get the bug
21 Jul 09
Nearly 150 children, aged between six and ten, from seven Oxfordshire primary schools gathered at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History last week to hear the final results of Bug Quest 2009.
For the last six months the children have been taking part in a living lab research project to identify insects in their school. The success of the event was summed up by one enthused pupil saying: ‘I have found out that science is all around me.’
Bug Quest is a survey, carried out by children, of the arthropods (insects, spiders, millipedes and centipedes) that live in buildings alongside us.
Using small insect traps placed in different parts of the school, they collected common species that are usually considered to be pests, such as clothes moths and carpet beetles. One eight year old commented: ‘I liked all the creepy crawlies. I was really fascinated by them.’
An eight year old at Bug Quest 2009I liked all the creepy crawlies. I was really fascinated by them.
The pupils kept a monthly tally of the different insect populations on a spreadsheet shared with other schools on the Bug Quest website. This enabled the children to track monthly trends and spot regional variations across the county.
Teachers from the participating schools said the bugs’ world had been an educational journey that they had all enjoyed, adding ‘The project has been fantastic for my class as it gave the children a real sense of purpose for their work.’
The project culminated in a Bug Quest event at the museum on 14 July when the final Bug Quest results from all the schools were read out to children and teachers.
Dr George McGavin, Honorary Research Associate at the Museum, gave a talk on the role that insects play in our lives before awarding prizes to participating schools. The experts also showed children how to handle insects, including a well-known large hairy spider.
‘During the event the children even got to feel a tarantula’, said Chris Jarvis, the museum’s education officer. ‘It seemed to cure some of them of their spider phobias! We hope this hands-on education will engage children. Who knows, some of them may even want to take science at a higher level one day.’
Wendy Fuggles, promotions officer at the University of Oxford, said: ‘I don’t know of any other similar project for primary school children in the UK. It brings together so many different aspects of the primary school curriculum. The children made some incredible insect models at their schools, giving old plastic drinks bottles, coffee tins, egg cartons and pipe liners a new lease of life.’
All primary schools in Oxfordshire are invited to take part in the annual Bug Quest challenge, which has been running since 2005.