Project Butterfly WINGS: Winning Investigative Network for Great Science
Overview
Project Butterfly WINGS: Winning Investigative Network for Great Science fosters adolescent interest, understanding, and long-term involvement in science through authentic, hands-on, collaborative research with scientists investigating butterfly biodiversity, distribution, and host-plant preferences. WINGS is a field- and web-based Student and Scientist Partnership (SSP) that targets adolescents in grades 4-8, especially females. WINGS participants monitor butterflies in gardens and natural areas, and conduct regular surveys of the species visiting them. They enter this information into an online database, linked to an interactive web site, where other participants, the public, and UF scientists can access the information. Scientists use the database to obtain quantitative and qualitative information to answer basic research questions. Likewise, WINGS participants are encouraged to use the information to formulate their own questions about butterfly biodiversity, and carry out additional experiments to answer those questions.
Visit the WINGS Web Site (Under Development)
Download a WINGS brochure (PDF)
Partners
Florida Cooperative Extension Service
National 4-H Council
Staff
Betty A. Dunckel, PI/PD
Thomas C. Emmel, Co-PI
Joy C. Jordan, Co-PI
Jaret C. Daniels, Co-PI
Mark E. Hostetler, Co-PI
Marilyn Martin, Project Director
Kathy C. Malone, Program Coordinator
Nikole K. Kadel, Program Coordinator
Dale Johnson - Designer
Peng Lu - Database/Web Developer
Funding
National Science Foundation (ESI-0406173)
National 4-H Council
FAO Schwarz Family Foundation
Publication
Dunckel, B.A, Malone, K.C., & Kadel, N.K. (2008). Inquiry is taking flight through Project Butterfly WINGS. In R.E. Yager & J.H. Falk (Eds.), Exemplary Science in Informal Education Settings: Standards-Based Success Stories (pp. 31-45). Arlington, Virginia: NSTA Press.
Return to the Center for Informal Science Education overview