Counting butterflies is an important aspect of insect conservation programs that is often performed by volunteer scientists from the public. In this interactive outreach activity, students search for and count butterflies (3D butterfly stickers) placed around the room after a brief demonstration on how scientists use butterfly counts to study butterfly populations and inform conservation. At our table, students learn about statistical uncertainty and how increasing sample size leads to more precise estimates of the actual number of butterflies. Students who participate receive a small insect sticker to take home.
The activity can be run with 2-4 people and completed in 3-5 minutes. Having fewer than 2 people at the table is chaotic, and more than 4 people is not more helpful.
This repository contains all the material to replicate the outreach activity.
scripts: In this subdirectory, there is a script named modelOutreachButterflCounts.R that can be run from source if the user has the proper permissions to read in a google sheet to their R console.
Documents: This subdirectory contains associated documents useful for preparing for the outreach event. The directory includes:
- ButterfliesCountPoster.pdf; A printable poster to have on the table (Link to poster on Canva)
- ButterfliesCountPoster.png; Same poster but saved as a png
-GMSD_ButterfliesCount_LessonPlan.docx; Lesson plan with overall learning objectives, lesson plan, and set-up instructions
-GMSD_dataSheet.docx; Sheet to print with multiple copies for students to sign-in and document how long they spend searching for butterflies
-ZipkinLabGMSD_SignUpBlurb.docx; Short blurb used to describe activity when sending to event organizers to reserve a table