OF BUTTERFLIES AND BEETLES - FIRST-GRADERS WAYS OF SEEING AND TALKINGABOUT INSECT LIFE-CYCLES

First graders' understandings of insect life cycles are explored throu gh pre-and postinstructional interviews, as well as through the analys is of children's journal entries and talk that occurred throughout an instructional unit on beetle and butterfly metamorphosis. The data ind icated that children's informal experiences resulted in the constructi on of one of three models of insect life cycles. Children's journal wr iting provided an avenue for contextualizing their experience with bee tle and butterfly metamorphosis. Although the children's ways of seein g and talking about beetle and butterfly life cycles were changed by t he instructional experience, the instructional experience constrained their understandings of insect life cycles. (C) 1997 John Wiley & Sons , Inc.