When to introduce Orders?

Posted by Curtis Takahashi on March 24, 2015 at 11:23am

Hi all,

I'm teaching Entomology 101 for the first time.  While I've worked with General Education classes and insects, done outreach talks, and helped out students from time to time, this is the first time solo.  When does everyone begin talking about the various Orders and how quickly do you bring them on?  Do you deal with integument and organ systems first?  Just trying to be sure not to overwhelm the students before they can gain interest in the subject (for those who are general bio majors and may not have considered an organismal major as opposed to molecular).

Thanks,

Curtis

You need to be a member of ESA Networks to add comments!

Join ESA Networks

Email me when people reply –
Follow

Replies

  • Jeffery T Alfred March 25, 2015 at 9:47am

    As a person who came into entomology with very little knowledge of insects, I think it is important to cover some of the basics of anatomy. It will be easier to explain the defining characters of an order if the students already have some knowledge about saltatorial vs cursorial for example or what a pronotum is.

  • Thomas M Dykstra March 24, 2015 at 1:14pm

    I find it better to introduce the orders earlier rather than later.  I start with arthropods in general, and then head right into the orders by the second lecture.  Integument and organ systems can be difficult to start out.

This reply was deleted.