Hello!
I’m a middle school science teacher about to go into biodiversity, and I was awarded a grant for materials to host a sky fishing event at my school.
This will be the first year we are doing this, so I was wondering if you have any tips and tricks (including safety) for putting this together. I was planning on utilizing iNaturalist for identification. My goal is to not only showcase the biodiversity in our area, but to show the beauty of the insects we normally don’t think twice about.
We are located in NE Oklahoma and will be doing this during our upcoming biodiversity unit in spring. This will be primarily for 7th and 8th graders and their families.
Thoughts and ideas?
Edit: sorry I didn’t know the correct term was a light sheet survey. I plan on having white sheets with both uv lights and regular white lights to attract insects.
A UV flashlight shone on a plain white sheet is an effective lure for moths, so a lesson early on (and multiple reminders during the activity) of the hazards of shining a UV light directly into someone’s eyes is very important.
is that a new term for a light sheet survey?
Sorry I was looking at different references and I saw a light sheet survey called sky fishing. Didn’t know the correct term when I posted.
Please define "sky fishing". What are you doing, and how do you plan to do it?
I plan on having white sheets hanging with both uv lights and regular white lights shining on the sheets. I didn’t realize this was known as a light sheet survey.
I recommend getting some books as well. I think it’s an important skill to be able to ID without AI telling you what it is immediately. Or at least to cross reference what AI is telling you with a book. The book will show more info and you can read up on the stuff you find as you go. It would be fun if they got a little notebook for making observations and drawing what they see. What a cool event for kids to learn from! Make sure you have enough lights and back up batteries to last the entire length of the event. I also think it would be helpful to set up early so you’re not waiting on things to show up, it can take some time for things to arrive and land on the sheet. Maybe get one started and then show them the process on another? Totally unrelated to bugs but in the same vein, in april there’s usually a migration of salamanders to vernal pools on like the first warm rainy nights and it can be fun to show the kids that as well. Your local herpetologist should know the right timing and locations to observe this.
Thank you!