Sample Lesson Plan

Title

Coleoptera: Diversity and Identification.

Course Level

Undergraduate and graduate students.

Number of Students

20-30 students.

Class Time

3 hours.

Lesson Plan Description

The goal of this activity is to provide a broad context of beetle (Coleoptera) diversity, their main morphological features, and create an environment where students work in groups during the challenging process of using dichotomous keys to identify beetles to Family level. All teaching assistants support the groups during the activity execution. Towards the end, after all groups finish identifying their specimens, a discussion with the entire class will help students reflect on their actions during the activity, their challenges, and offer a space for clarifying any lingering questions.

I designed and implemented this activity when I taught the lab sessions of the Insect Biology course at Cornell University in Fall 2022. The activity was well received by students and faculty, and I was invited to offer it again as a guest lecturer in Fall 2023.

Learning Goals

By the end of this lab session, students will be able to:

Recognize key morphological features of beetles.
Use dichotomous keys to identify beetles to Family level.