Bess, the best beetle

Andrew Edwards

Science textbooks are filled with facts and figures, but sometimes

children can learn more from a beetle.

Students in teacher Christina DiCarlo’s first-grade class at

Huntington Seacliff Elementary School welcomed the six-legged

creatures to their classroom to help them study the world of

organisms.

“His name is the bess beetle, not the best beetle, though I do

like him a lot,” DiCarlo said, introducing the specimens to her

class.

The beetles were supplied to the class by the Science Works

Consortium, a privately funded initiative that loans science supplies

to Orange County schools. In addition to classrooms in the Huntington

Beach City School District, Science Works kits find their way into

classrooms in Westminster, Fountain Valley and Laguna Beach. The

focus of the program is to give children hands-on experience that

will foster a lifelong passion for science.

“What were trying to do is prepare our school children today for a

brighter work force tomorrow,” Science Works Director Lauren Vu-Tran

said.

In DiCarlo’s class, the students’ task was to emulate a

professional scientist by collecting as many observations as possible

on their beetles. Magnifiers in hand, the students peered at the

shiny black bugs to get a closer look at their new guests.

“I’m looking at his pinchers and stuff,” 6-year-old Isabel King

said as she peered through a magnifier.

Using the tools, the children were able to see the minute details

that easily escape the unaided eye.

“It’s very, very hairy,” 7-year-old Katie Prizler observed.

Once the students had a chance to look at the beetles, some took

the insects out of their plastic habitats to find out what the

insects felt like.

“It tickles real bad,” 7-year-old Anthony Robles said.

What the students learned went into their notebooks. After

everybody had a chance to look at, touch, and even listen to the

beetle -- it can use its wings to communicate by making faint

squeaking sounds -- they jotted down the new information next to

pictures of the beetle that they drew.

Students often retain more from hands-on lessons than book work,

DiCarlo said, adding that she has spoken to fourth-graders who

remember their first-grade lessons.

“It’s just the best way to learn,” she said.