Subject: Re: A 1st Grade Homework assignment

From: "Charles V. Covell Jr." <[email-masked]>
Date: Mon, 8 May 1995 12:29:20 EDT

Dept. of Biology, Univ. of Louisville, Louisville, KY 40292
PHONE: (502) 852-6771

Regarding seemingly trivial questions from young people to the net, I
see by the question about where butterflies spend the night and the
responses I have heard that the question is far from trivial.  After
45 years as a lepidopterist, I still learned a lot from the answers
some of you gave.  And I know there is much more information out there,
too time consuming to dig out by the usual modes.  Finally, I agree that
we do need to think of future biologists in the making, and not turn them
off with curt answers or complaints of their using the net for their
basic questions.  Of course, this kind of thing could get very much out
of hand, and I think a solution needs to be thought out.  I would like
to thank those who field these questions for the young'uns, and say
I also appreciate the feelings of those who prefer to see the net
used for the more advanced questions and answers.  In this case,
I learned some useful information about butterfly hideaways that
would not have come up if a young person had not asked the question.

Butterflies in Ky. have been pretty plentiful despite a rather cool
and attenuated spring.  I was in DC and Arlington, VA on Apr. 19 and
noted numerous Pieris rapae all over the area - a very wide-spread
abundance.  Not having been in that area during April for many years,
I am not sure whether this was unusual or not; but it would be for
Louisville, KY.  Cheers, Charlie Covell

---

From: [email-masked] (Terry Morse)
Date: Mon, 8 May 1995 14:13:19

In article <[email-masked]> "Charles V. Covell 
Jr." writes:

>basic questions.

The question of answering student questions has been bandied about 
recently on the entomo-l and bugnet mailing lists.  It seems to me that the 
real problem is with entire classes posting vague questions which could be 
researched at the library before turning to the internet for clarification, 
and with older students looking for answers to their take-home exam questions.

In the case of a first grader with a specific question, why not provide an 
answer?  The only place I've seen a reference to where butterflies go in the 
rain is in Robert Michael Pyle's _Handbook for Butterfly Watchers_.  I 
suggested this to the first grader and said, "Support your local library."  It 
occurred to me afterward that the first grader's local library may not have 
the book.

Let's save our flames for the people who are really causing whatever 
problems there are, namely the teachers who have their classes post 
vague questions which could have been answered using the school library,  
and the lazy older students.  In the case of the teachers, I imagine many of 
them are relatively new to the internet and aren't familiar with its proper 
use, so educating them would be better than flaming them.

--Terry
Terry Morse
[email-masked]
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