Child looking at a butterfly preserved in a resin block

Presentation

Bugs: Life Cycles and Interactions

Years 3 to 4

Museums Victoria Melbourne Museum Education School excursions Bugs: Life Cycles and Interactions

Museums Victoria / Melbourne Museum / Education / School excursions / Bugs: Life Cycles and Interactions

Overview Related excursions Curriculum Accessibility Access Fund Museum Teachers

Get up close with bugs and see how they grow!

In this curriculum-aligned excursion, students in year 3 and 4 explore the features of insects and other bugs, and learn how they help them survive in and respond to their environment. They discover the important roles bugs play in the environment through their interactions with other living things, and how they change and grow over their life-cycles.

Students will experience

Being guided by a museum expert in exploring hands-on objects.
Investigating prepared bug specimens up close.
Seeing incredible slow-motion footage of bugs in motion.
Working in small groups to answer questions, follow interests, generate wonder and awe.

Students will learn

That scientists use observable characteristics to group living things.
How to identify the different groups of bugs (arthropods).
About the physical features of animals that help them sustain the basic needs of life, such as finding food and protection.
That different bug groups have different life-cycles including complete and partial metamorphosis.
That bugs are the most diverse and numerous of all animals groups.
How to think like a scientist to ask questions, make observations and test predictions.
About the incredibly important role bugs play in our environment, and to humans.

Other key information

This interactive 30-minute presentation is recommended as an introduction for 3-4 groups before visiting the Bugs Alive! exhibition.

Availability

Terms 1–4, Monday to Friday

10am, 11am, 12 noon, 1:30pm

Duration: 30 minutes

Student information

Years 3 to 4

Minimum 15 students

Maximum 30 students

Bookings

$11 per student + education service fee

Call 13 11 02

School visit information

Presentation

Presented by a museum educator

Related Excursions

Students exploring the Soil Biome in Our Wondrous Planet exhibition. Giant models of soil organisms can be seen, such as ants and mites.

Victorian Curriculum Links

Science: Levels 3 and 4

Biological sciences

plants and animals have different life cycles; offspring are similar, but not identical, to their parents(VC2S4U02)
consumers, producers and decomposers have different roles and interactions within a habitat; food chains can be used to represent feeding relationships (VC2S4U03)

Accessibility

Please view our accessibility page for general information. Contact our team on 13 11 02 or email us at [email protected] to discuss how we can support your visit.

Museums Victoria Learning Access Fund

The Museums Victoria Learning Access Fund aims to enhance access to our museums (Melbourne Museum, Scienceworks and Immigration Museum), programs and events by offering free or subsidised education programs for eligible schools. Find out more about the fund.