Macrophotography, articles, and links provide a well-rounded look into dragonflies and damselflies, walking sticks, mantids, ants, bees and wasps, flies, lacewings, antlions, and other insects. As the site's author says, a major goal is to help you really see insects for the miniature marvels they represent and to understand how intertwined our cultures have become with these alien creatures.
This reource has three main sections:
- Entophiles—where you can view insect macrophotography combined with informative descriptions
- Class: Insecta—has useful educational resources including information about butterfly wing patterns
- CE Digest—where you can read articles about how insects play a major role in almost every aspect of human culture
This site offers a very effective way to take a close-up look at insects without harming them. There are great "zoom" options that allow students to see extreme close-ups of insects. The use of art is very helpful in providing insect body details that are hard to see otherwise. There is great visual content for K-6 students, although some of the text is written at a higher level.
Butterfly 1: Observing the Life Cycle of a Butterfly
K-2 | Interactive
K-2 | Hands-On
3-5 | Interactive
6-12 | Audio
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K-12 | Interactive