Teaching sequence

Work through this resource material in the following sequence:

20 minutes

Tune In: Minibeasts

15 minutes

Find Out: Controlling minibeasts

20 minutes

Take Action: What is best? Debate

5 minutes

Reflection

Tune In: Minibeasts

Step 1

Begin by inviting students to share what they know about the term ‘minibeasts’, for example:

what does it mean?
what are some examples of minibeasts?
why do you think some people get excited about minibeasts while others find them gross or scary?

Through your discussion, explain to students that although ‘minibeasts’ is not a scientific term, in most cases, it refers to invertebrates (creatures without backbones). This includes insects, spiders, beetles, snails, worms, centipedes and many, many more.

Step 2

Share one of the videos from the ABC iView Minibeast Heroes collection that you think your students would enjoy. Once complete, invite them to discuss the complexities of the minibeast’s life and usefulness in the garden.

Step 3

Give each student a copy of the Student Worksheet and ask them to choose a minibeast from the list below (also available on the Student Worksheet). Each student needs to focus on a different minibeast, and some will be easier to research than others (you could assign supported learning students the options with the *):

Dragonfly	St Andrews Cross Spider	Blue ant
Ants	Bogong moth*	Caterpillar
Cicada	Cabbage moth	Christmas beetle
Cricket	Daddy longlegs*	Fruit fly
Earthworm*	Coddling moth	Grasshopper
Ichneumon wasp	Huntsman spider	Earwig*
Lacewing	Ladybird*	Leafhopper
Leopard slug	Snail*	Mantid
Millipede	Native bee	European bee
Rhinoceros Beetle	Slater	Termite*
Aphid	Wasp

Students should conduct some brief research into their specific minibeast and design a simple A4 poster about their minibeast that addresses the following (also available on the Student Worksheet):

Name of insect
A simple map showing where it can be found in Australia
Where in the environment it can be found (e.g. underground or close to water)
Any interesting information about behaviour (e.g. is it nocturnal?)
What does it eat?
Life cycle (e.g. how often and when does it breed, and how many offspring can it produce?)
Are they native to Australia?
The role this insect plays in the ecosystem, e.g. is it a decomposer or a pollinator?
Whether it is good or bad in terms of growing food, and why you think it is good or bad.

Students should add a thick red or green border to their insect poster

Red = bad for the garden
Green = good for the garden

Note: Some students may recognise that ALL native minibeasts have a place in gardens; however, invite students to think about the challenges that gardeners who are growing food might experience and to base their assessment of ‘good’ or ‘bad’ on this experience alone, rather than the balance of biodiversity within a garden. Later in this lesson, students will be thinking about controlling minibeasts chemically, how this might affect biodiversity and what alternatives there are to chemical pest control.

Step 4

These posters are then to be displayed in the classroom. The aim is for students to understand the ‘good’ and ‘bad’ minibeasts commonly found in Australian gardens and farms.

You can then take a moment to reflect with students that even though they have classified these minibeasts as being either good or bad for the garden, it’s important to remember that in nature, all these animals have an important role to play and that their presence is essential to a healthy, functioning ecosystem. This is a point that more and more farmers and gardeners are becoming aware of, and many are looking for ways to work with minibeasts rather than battle with them.

Find Out: Controlling minibeasts

Step 1

Explain to students that in agriculture, minibeasts can be prolific eaters of produce and destroyers of crops. However, for some farmers - like those practising regenerative farming - minibeasts are essential to a successfully functioning farm.

Share this video with students:

Regen Farming - Dung Beetles Password: RF_EDU (https://vimeo.com/841107727)

(Note: This video comes from the documentary Rachel’s Farm, which explores the journey that a farmer - Rachel Ward - takes when shifting her farm from conventional practices to regenerative practices.)

Step 2

Now pose the following question and invite students to share their responses:

how can we encourage minibeasts to be a part of our ecosystem but not destroy our crops?

Lead students to the idea that different farming practices manage minibeasts differently. The practices students will be looking at today are:

Conventional farming, which often applies pesticides to individual crops
Regenerative farming, which limits the use of pesticides and focuses on overall farm health

Tip: You could incorporate these definitions into your class glossary.

Step 3

Working in pairs, students will now research and explore the similarities and differences between regenerative and conventional farming practices. Students will take note of both the positive and negative effects of both and put this information into a VENN diagram.

Each student should create their own VENN diagram; however, pairs should work together to discuss the research and decide what should and shouldn’t be included in the diagrams. Give students 10 minutes to conduct their research and create their diagrams.

Some resources that students might find useful here include (also available on the Student Worksheet):

Soils for Life - Encouraging Regenerative Agriculture
Farmers for Climate Action - Farmers are Taking Action for a Sustainable Future
Sustainable Table - Australia’s Food and Farming Systems.
Scientific American - Mythbusting 101 - Organic Farming > Conventional Agriculture
NBC News - What a Nutritionist wants you to Know about Food and Pesticides
The Nature Conservancy - Taking on our biggest Conservation Challenges

Step 4

Once complete, students are to swap partners with another pair and add to their own VENN diagram so that they have as much detailed information to hand as possible.

Take Action: What is best? Debate

Step 1

Debate:

Divide the class into two groups, one for regenerative farming practices and the other for pesticide-based farming practices. They will be arguing the following:

Regenerative farming practices are better for our minibeasts, the farmer and the consumer.

Not sure how to run a debate? Use the Debate Guidelines.

In preparing their arguments, each larger group could break into smaller groups and focus on the following points (Student Worksheet):

What is quicker in removing minibeasts from crops?
What has more longevity in removing minibeasts from crops?
What is a more cost-effective way of removing them from crops?
What are the flow-on effects of both regenerative practices and pesticide use on the consumer?
- Cost
- Quality
- Amount of crops available
- Impact on the environment
- Impact on human health.

Step 2

Students debate the pros and cons of regenerative vs pesticide-based farming practices.

Once complete, invite the class to reflect on the success of the debate, including where your students sit on the debate topic: Regenerative farming practices are better for our minibeasts, the farmer and the consumer. Do they believe that regenerative farming can solve the problems of pests in agriculture? Why or why not?

(Depending upon your cohort, class size and ability levels, you could run all debates simultaneously with one student running each debate.)

Step 3. OPTIONAL: It is important to mention here that regenerative farming does permit the use of chemicals; however, their use is considered a last resort when all other natural options have been considered and exhausted. The following video provides a great example of why and why regenerative farmers might need to use chemical insecticides whilst also considering the potential costs and benefits of their use:

Regen Farming - Targeted Chemical Use Password: RF_EDU (https://vimeo.com/841108127)

(Note: This video comes from the documentary Rachel’s Farm, which explores the journey that a farmer - Rachel Ward - takes when shifting her farm from conventional practices to regenerative practices.)

Reflection

Note: if you plan on completing multiple lessons from this unit, students should use a separate document for reflections throughout these lessons to track their changing views on agricultural practices in Australia.

Invite students to work independently to respond to one the following prompts (also available on the Student Worksheet):

Prompt 1. How has your thinking about minibeasts changed throughout this lesson? Use the following questions to guide your answer:

Following this lesson, would you be more or less likely to plant different flowers/trees to attract certain minibeasts? Why or why not?
Would you be more or less likely to use mainstream bug sprays to remove minibeasts from your home or garden? Why or why not?

Prompt 2. Do you think you might make more informed decisions about where your food comes from and what went into its production? Why or why not? Use the following questions to guide your answer:

Do you think it is worth paying the extra for organic now that you know more about the process? Why or why not?
How could labelling be changed so consumers can make more informed decisions about their purchasing?

Take it further

Students who complete the work early can engage with the separate ongoing lesson on Space Agriculture, which has been written and designed specifically for this purpose.

Differentiated learning

We trust that teachers are the best equipped to know how to cater to the diversity in their classes. At Cool, we incorporate a variety of differentiation strategies into each lesson. Firstly, each lesson in this unit appeals to an array of different learning preferences. Learning activities can be completed in a number of different ways - if a student feels more comfortable speaking rather than writing, there are opportunities to accommodate this.

In lessons that feature group work or learning stations, we trust that teachers will use their discretion in knowing how to best organise their students in accordance with positive working relationships and ability. Graphic organisers and scaffolds are often included so students can ‘visually think’ and keep a record of their work. While our lessons are designed to be 55 - 60 minutes in length, we trust that teachers will manipulate lesson and segment times according to the needs of their students.

Minibeasts, Pollinators, Organics and Pesticides

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