Project Butterfly WINGS: Winning Investigative Network for Great Science
Overview
Project Butterfly WINGS: Winning Investigative Network for Great Science fosters adolescent interest, understanding, and long-term involvement in science through authentic, hands-on, collaborative research with scientists investigating butterfly biodiversity, distribution, and host-plant preferences. WINGS is a field- and web-based Student and Scientist Partnership (SSP) that targets adolescents in grades 4-8, especially females. WINGS participants monitor butterflies in gardens and natural areas, and conduct regular surveys of the species visiting them. They enter this information into an online database, linked to an interactive web site, where other participants, the public, and UF scientists can access the information. Scientists use the database to obtain quantitative and qualitative information to answer basic research questions. Likewise, WINGS participants are encouraged to use the information to formulate their own questions about butterfly biodiversity, and carry out additional experiments to answer those questions.
Visit the WINGS Web Site (Under Development)
Download a WINGS brochure (PDF)
Partners
University of Florida Department of Wildlife Ecology and Conservation
4-H, Florida Cooperative Extension Service
Staff
Betty A. Dunckel, Ph.D., PI/PD
Mark Hostetler, Ph.D., Co-PI, Department of Wildlife Ecology & Conservation
Thomas C. Emmel, Ph.D., Co-PI
Marilyn Martin - Project Director
Kathy Malone - Program Coordinator
Dale Johnson - Designer
Peng Lu - Database/Web Developer
Jaret Daniels, Ph.D., Extension Consultant
Joy C. Jordan, Ph.D., Extension Consultant
Funding
National Science Foundation (ESI-0406173)
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