Every fall people all over North America carefully catch monarch butterflies, and place a tiny, paper ID tag on one wing. The tagged butterflies are released and continue their journeys. It is always exciting to find a tagged butterfly and wonder when and where it was tagged.
In these activities, students read and explore true stories of tagged monarch butterflies to discover how the round, coded stickers help us learn more about monarchs and their amazing journeys. Each story provides a glimpse into the kinds of information that can be revealed when monarchs are tagged and recovered. Challenge your class to figure out what conclusions can be made from tagging and recovery data. Invite them to make hypotheses to explain unexpected findings. Generate questions that motivate students to search for answers.
Link to Readings
|
1.
Examine a photo of a tagged monarch butterfly.
As
students examine a photo
of a tagged monarch, ask questions to build background knowledge and
spark students’ curiosity:
- Why does this monarch have a tiny, round, paper sticker on its wing?
- Why are monarchs captured and tagged every year in the fall?
- Who tags monarch butterflies and why? What information is on a tag?
- What kinds of information can we learn from the journey of tagged monarchs?
2. Read a
true story about the recovery of a monarch tag.
Before reading a true story of a tagged butterfly, have students
imagine what it would be like to catch and tag a monarch butterfly in
the fall. Ask questions to get them thinking about what kinds of information
we can learn from tagged monarchs: Imagine your newly tagged butterfly
flying off from your backyard. How far will it travel in a few hours,
days, or weeks? How fast will it fly on its journey? Will it travel along
the same pathways of previous migrations? Will the butterfly fly over
mountains and oceans? How will the weather affect its travel? Will the
butterfly survive and reach the overwintering site in Mexico or will it
be discovered somewhere else? What will happen when someone else sees
or finds your tagged butterfly?
Introduce the story, The Monarch Tag that Traveled Round Trip, by saying: Here’s a tale about a tag that was discovered in Mexico a few years ago. As you listen, imagine that you are the person who placed the ID tag on the monarch butterfly. Read aloud the story, noting details about the dates, times, and locations of tagging and recovery. Think aloud to show students how to identify important tagging and recovery data, make conclusions from the data, formulate hypotheses, and ask questions using details in the story.
3.
Explore more stories about tagged monarch butterflies.
Place students in small groups to read True
Stories About Tagged Monarch Butterflies. (Distribute helpful handouts.)
Have students choose one of the stories and complete the following tasks:
- Mark the monarch's tagging and recovery locations on a blank map.
- Examine the tagging and recovery data and draw conclusions: distance traveled in a certain amount of time, geographic features encountered along the migratory path, and more.
- Focus students’ attention on the surprising and unexpected events described in the stories of tagged monarchs. Challenge them to use their knowledge, experience, and imaginations to come up with possible explanations for the unexpected findings. Share students’ hypotheses and explore the factors that led to their explanations of the surprising events described in the stories.
- Ask questions to help the class think about factors that might relate to what happened: Could a change in the environment (e.g., short-term weather, long-term climate) be a reason for what happened? Could a human factor be responsible (e.g., development or deforestation that affects an animal's normal habitat)?
- Reread the stories to identify questions raised by the people who tagged or recovered the butterflies. Invite students to share their own questions in response to the surprising events described.
- Encourage students to explore their hypotheses and questions: What new data or information would help us check and further refine our explanations? If possible, give students time to pursue further research or e-mail "experts."
4.
Examine tagging data on a map.
Look at Dr.
Urquhart’s tagging data on an authentic map made available by Monarch
Watch, a citizen-science project at the University of Kansas. Have
students use the map to collect data, draw conclusions, make hypotheses,
and ask questions. Challenge them to think about how tagging data, stories,
and maps can assist scientists who study monarch populations and fall
migration. What are researchers hoping to learn about monarchs and
their migration by analyzing tagging data?
5.
Analyze tagging data.
After reading stories and examining maps, analyze tagging data
by looking for patterns and comparing/contrasting similarities and differences.
6.
Extend students’ learning.
A tag weighs about 2% of a monarchs' body weight. Have students figure
out 2% of their own body weight. Would it be hard to carry something this
heavy?
Monarch tags are tiny, round stickers made of polypropylene. They are 9mm in diameter, a little larger than a hole-punch, and account for about 2 percent of a butterfly’s weight.
The tag, encoded with numbers and letters identifying the location and name of the tagger, is supplied by Monarch Watch, a University of Kansas program that documents the monarch migration and promotes conservation of butterfly habitats.
Tagging information helps answer questions about the geographic origins of monarchs, the timing and pace of the migration, mortality during migration, and changes in geographic distribution.
