Water beetles live underwater their entire lives, getting air from a bubble they carry with them. The video, part of an Insect playlist by Brain Scoop, explains how they breathe and why they are fascinating for evolutionary studies. It also introduces the importance of a watershed and using beetles as a bio-indicator.

Concepts

insects, beetles, entomology, oxygen, carbon dioxide, bioindicators

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Additional Tags

science

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Instructional Ideas

• Map the rivers near you that contain water beetles
• Discuss the importance of listing the location and date of each specimen to scientists

Classroom Considerations

• Relies on some prior knowledge of evolution

• This video is hosted on YouTube

Pros

• Requires very little class time
• Includes closed captioning in English and Spanish for the hearing impaired

Cons

• None

Common Core

SL.6.2 SL.7.2 SL.8.2 SL.9-10.2 SL.11-12.2 RST.6-8.4 RST.9-10.4 RST.11-12.4