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Exploring
California Insects
BugPeople
Programs
| Students at the Lawrence
Hall of Science's Sagehen Creek Wildlife Research Camp mount insects they
collected in the field. |
From Eddie Dunbar, CEO & Founder,
BugPeople LLC, Oakland, California |
| Beginning back in 1990 BugPeople (then named "Quality Nature Displays") began making science connections to literacy and math through insect exhibits, displays and outreach. From 1996 to 1998 BugPeople resources were responsible for much of the huge success of the University of California’s CityBugs program. The goal of CityBugs, initially, was to recruit students to Berkeley from McClymonds High School, Oakland. Later, CityBugs offered professional development for Oakland teachers. |
| At about the same time (1998) Eddie Dunbar, CityBugs' Program Coordinator, began the BugPeople website and contracted with Mills College and Oakland Schools
to offer professional development for teachers of science through Mills' Leadership Institute for Teaching Elementary Science (LITES), Oakland middle schools' WalkAbouts and the science department's Comprehensive Partnerships for Math Science Achievement (CPMSA). |
| Science Literacy is modeled by BugPeople through
activities, technology and presentations. BugPeople activities are always
hands-on. Bug Hunts are a favorite. Students BugPeople insect nets, collecting
jars and forceps and are led on excursions in familiar Oakland settings.
Students learn to observe and recognize insects in the field. Back in the
lab students may rear, photograph or mount the insects in a collection. Student
work may be published online as part of the Exploring California Insects
Field Guide or Virtual Collection, or group work may be published onto a
commemorative CD-ROM. |
| Publications BugPeople creates both collaborative and legacy publications.
Collaborative publications are developed in cooperation with client organizations
in accordance with client goals. Legacy publications include two evolving
CD-ROM-based field guides, this BugPeople.org website (with 2,323
photographs and 7,245 pages on 911 insects), curriculum, and interactive
CD-ROM-based games or activities. |
| Clients have included Mills College’s Leadership Institute
for Teaching Elementary Science (LITES) (1998-1999). BugPeople taught workshops on "Insects as Tools for Teaching the Sciences"
for the program providing continuing
education instruction to Oakland teachers. Lawrence Hall of Science
(2000-Present) - Each summer BugPeople publishes curriculum in support of LHSs Sagehen Wildlife Biology Camp and Pacific Coast Ecology Camp. *New - Apex Bait Technologies, Inc., Santa Clara, CA (Since
November 2004) BugPeople has provide technical writing assistance for a researcher conducting efficacy
tests of insecticides used against Branch 2 household pests.
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What Participants Get
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| Participants
in Exploring California Insect workshops gain an appreciation for local insect
biodiversity. They also develop positive attitudes about themselves as scientists
through use of entomology equipment and technology that benefits them throughout
life. |
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