It is a bit of mouthful I know but the Learning with Lepidoptera is learning concept we are working on for our child learning packages. We have through a process of trial and error looked at several species of moth and butterfly on which we can base a living learning package. The packages which are currently mapped to the Curriculum for Excellence in Scotland are a product we want to develop and have a number of options available to customers. At the moment we have developed two packages, one based on the Heliconid species of butterfly and the other on the Eri Silkmoth. The latter providing children with the option to buy the living learning package with rearing instructions for the moth species. The packages are designed for cross curricular learning and are based on characters of each species “Heli” and “Eri”. This is the time of year when we start to plan for the species we will try out in the coming season and this year we are hoping to work with the Robin Moth (North America); Asian Owl Moth (Asia); Madagascan Bullseye Moth (Madagascar); Garden Tiger Moth (Europe); Peacock Moth (Europe); Emperor Moth (Europe); Cinnabar Moth (Europe); Puss Moth (Europe) and the Camberwell Beauty Butterfly (Europe). We are looking forward to seeing what we can do with these different species and how we can use these Lepidoptera to increase awareness and knowledge on key issues like biodiversity; life cycles; habitat loss; pollution; conservation; climate change. We also use these species to help better understand the people who live in the places, that are home to these species of butterfly and moth.
