DATE:    11/12/99 
CONTACT: Dr. Joe Culin, (864) 656-5041  
WRITER:  Giles Singleton, (864) 656-3876 

Clemson University Teaches S.C. Science Teachers 

     GREENVILLE -- Science teachers from across the state
recently learned how to make science come alive for their
students by using a "Monarch Migration" activity developed by an 
award-winning Clemson professor. 
     More than a thousand teachers from grades pre-kindergarten
to 12 attended the S.C. Science Council conference at the
Palmetto Expo Center on Nov. 12. 
     Joe Culin, a Clemson University professor of entomology, and
Marriah Schwallier, a graduate research assistant in entomology, 
presented the Monarch Migration activity and a Nectar Foraging
activity during a workshop for fourth and fifth grade elementary
school teachers. Culin uses these activities to let teachers and 
students feel what it's like to be a butterfly. In 1998, Culin 
was named the S.C. Professor of the Year by the Carnegie
Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching. 
     "The teachers actually participated in the "Monarch
Migration" activity that their students will play in the
classroom, "Culin said. "Monarchs migrate 3,000 miles from
eastern North America to central Mexico for the winter. In South
Carolina, we usually see them in late summer and fall." 
     The teachers started out as caterpillars, curled up in balls 
during the chrysalis stage, emerged as adult butterflies, and
"migrated" to Mexico. 
     On the way, depending on which card they drew, they stopped
to sip nectar, got caught in spider webs, and sometimes got 
eaten by a lizard. If they made it to Mexico, they were greeted
by Mexican music, tortilla chips and salsa. 
     "In the Nectar Foraging activity, the teachers used party
blowers, and blew to unroll them, so they could pick up felt
balls - which represent nectar - inside big plastic flowers,"
Culin said. 
     He added, "The last time we did this presentation at a
conference, we had standing room only, and people were lined 
up down the hall outside. The room was really too crowded, so we
had to limit it this time." 
     The games have been developed as part of the South Carolina
Butterfly Project and are currently used by 100 teachers in 60
South Carolina schools. The project, which combines the games,
butterfly gardens and the first student count of butterflies in
North America, is sponsored by the S.C. Commission on Higher
Education, the Clemson University Cooperative Extension Service
and the S.C. Agriculture and Forestry Research at Clemson,
through a $93,000 Dwight D. Eisenhower Professional Development
grant. Culin developed the project based on work by Dave L.
Kulhavy, an entomologist at Stephen F. Austin State University in 
Austin, Texas. 
     Culin combines his Extension ornamental commercial
horticulture work with his research and teaching skills in the
S.C. Butterfly Project. Teachers develop and maintain butterfly 
gardens. Through these, they connect science activities with
mathematics, computer skills, social studies, English composition
and visual arts activities. 
    "Extension links with nurseries and Master Gardeners have
provided more than $2,000 of plant materials for school gardens,"
Culin said. "Also, Master Gardeners and other community
volunteers help students care for the gardens and identify the
various types of butterflies that visit the gardens."
     For more information on the S.C. Butterfly Project, check
out http://butterfly.clemson.edu .
     Culin earned his bachelor's degree in biology from Eastern
College, his master's in entomology and applied ecology from the 
University of Delaware and his doctorate in entomology from the
University of Kentucky.  
                              END