Cicada Killer Wasp

📸 Photo Description

The photo shows a close-up view of dry, cracked earth with scattered pieces of wood and small stones. In the center, a small, dark insect, likely a cicada killer wasp, is emerging from a hole in the ground next to a small pile of dirt.

🔬 Scientific Phenomena

The video depicts an insect, likely a cicada killer wasp, emerging from its burrow in the ground. This behavior is related to the life cycle of the insect, specifically the emergence of adults from their pupal stage or the activity of adults preparing for reproduction. Cicada killer wasps are solitary insects that dig burrows in dry, sandy, or loamy soil. The females excavate these burrows to lay their eggs and provision them with paralyzed cicadas for the larvae to eat.

📚 Core Science Concepts

1. Life Cycles: Organisms, like this wasp, go through different stages of life. This stage shows an adult emerging to begin its reproductive cycle.
2. Habitats: This wasp lives in a specific environment – dry, open soil areas where it can dig its burrows. The cracked earth and scattered debris are characteristic of its habitat.
3. Behavior: The wasp's behavior of emerging from its burrow is driven by its need to survive, find food, and reproduce.
4. Interaction with Environment: The wasp's burrowing behavior directly interacts with and shapes its environment, creating tunnels in the soil.

Pedagogical Tip: When introducing life cycles, connect them to familiar animals first before introducing less common ones like the cicada killer wasp. Use a visual aid like a life cycle wheel or chart to help students track the stages.

UDL Suggestions: Provide students with a graphic organizer where they can draw the wasp emerging from its burrow and label the parts of its habitat visible in the image. Offer sentence starters to help them describe the wasp's actions.

🔍 Zoom In / Zoom Out Concepts

1. Zoom In: Inside the burrow, a larva would have been developing, feeding on stored cicadas, and eventually pupating before transforming into an adult.
2. Zoom Out: The burrow created by this wasp is part of a larger ecosystem. Other insects and animals may also use or be affected by these burrows, and the wasp itself plays a role in controlling cicada populations.

🤔 Potential Student Misconceptions

1. Misconception: All wasps live in large colonies with a queen.

Clarification: Many wasps, like the cicada killer wasp, are solitary and live and nest alone, though they may nest near other solitary wasps.

1. Misconception: Insects just "appear" when it gets warm.

Clarification: Insects have life cycles, with eggs, larvae, pupae, and adult stages that take time to develop, often over months or even years. Emergence is a specific part of this cycle.

🎓 NGSS Connections

3-LS1-1: Develop models to describe that organisms have unique and diverse life cycles but all have in common birth, growth, reproduction, and death. ; ;

3-LS4-3: Construct an argument with evidence that in a particular habitat some organisms can survive well, some survive less well, and some cannot survive at all. ; ;

K-LS1-1 (Grade K — foundational connection): Use observations to describe patterns of what plants and animals (including humans) need to survive. ; ;

💬 Discussion Questions

1. What do you observe the insect doing in the image? (Bloom's: Remembering | DOK: 1 | SEP: Obtaining Evaluating and Communicating Information)
2. Based on the image, what kind of environment do you think this insect lives in? (Bloom's: Analyzing | DOK: 2 | SEP: Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions)
3. How might this insect's behavior be part of its life cycle? (Bloom's: Analyzing | DOK: 2 | SEP: Constructing Explanations and Designing Solutions)
4. What evidence in the photo suggests this insect is part of a group of animals that live in specific habitats? (Bloom's: Analyzing | DOK: 2 | SEP: Engaging in Argument from Evidence)

📖 Vocabulary

• Habitat: The natural home or environment of an animal, plant, or other organism.
• Burrow: A hole or tunnel dug by an animal, especially for shelter.
• Life Cycle: The series of changes that an organism undergoes throughout its life, from birth to death.
• Solitary: Living or being alone.

🌡️ Extension Activities

1. Wasp Life Cycle Diagram: Have students create a poster or a foldable that illustrates the life cycle of a cicada killer wasp, including egg, larva, pupa, and adult stages. They can research images to include.
2. Habitat Diorama: Students can create a shoebox diorama depicting the habitat of a cicada killer wasp, including the dry soil, rocks, and plant debris.

🔗 Cross-Curricular Ideas

• ELA: Read a story or informational text about insects and their life cycles. Students can write a short descriptive paragraph about the wasp emerging from its burrow.
• Art: Students can draw or paint the cicada killer wasp and its habitat, focusing on the textures of the dry earth and wood.
• Math: Measure the length of the burrow (if information is available or can be estimated) and compare it to the length of the wasp. Students can also graph the number of insects observed in a local park or backyard over a week.

🚀 STEM Career Connection

• Entomologist — Studies insects — how they live, what they eat, and the jobs they do in an ecosystem.
• Try it: Build a simple model of a cicada killer wasp's burrow using playdough or clay. (Practice: Developing and Using Models)
• Tools: insect nets, a hand lens, pinning boards, microscopes
• Where they work: museums, farms, insect labs, universities
• Meet one: Corrie Moreau — How ants evolved together with the bacteria that live inside them.
• Median pay: /year — "Zoologists and wildlife biologists"

• Biologist — Studies living things of every kind and what keeps them alive.
• Try it: Draw a diagram showing the life cycle of a butterfly, from egg to adult. (Practice: Developing and Using Models)
• Tools: microscopes, sample jars, measuring tools, a field notebook
• Where they work: laboratories, field sites, museums, universities
• Meet one: Sandra Díaz — What a plant's leaves, wood and shape tell you about how it lives — and how those traits add up across a whole ecosystem.
• Median pay: /year — "Biological scientists, all other"

Wage figures are median annual wages for the U.S. occupation named after each one, from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), national, May 2025. Several careers share one occupation, so their figures match.