I started by looking to the museum's website for thoughts on what they already know about weird bug stuff, and what they've done behind the scenes that they don't really talk about. I'm in the process at looking at each of the insect scientists to see what they chose to focus on in their studies, but these are some general things that I picked up on.
http://www.carnegiemnh.org/iz/info.html
http://www.carnegiemnh.org/assets/science/iz/books-to-bugs.doc
http://entnemdept.ifas.ufl.edu/walker/ufbir/chapters/index_order.shtml
- "good bugs" vs. "bad bugs," but still promoting a positive image of bugs (bad bugs only do bad things to survive)
- bugs as pest control
- bugs as a major link in the food chain and as pollinators (without them, all other life would cease to exist)
- don't fear bugs, but respect them
- urban myths about bugs (swallowing spiders in your sleep, etc.)
- being able to identify the major arthropod groups (this could be where we make visitors feel like bug scientists or use gigapans)
- which insects live in which regions in PA or the U.S. or around the world (ex: these insects live near you, bring home this PA identification book and see which bugs you can spot in your own backyard)
- insect world records (we could see if the museum has any of the insects that make the world record list, and hopefully find some weird things to talk about)
- cockroaches are the oldest insects on Earth, dating back 300 million years (evolution of bugs, what lived 300 million years ago, why insects can survive extinctions, etc.)
- bugs as decomposers (without them, we would be buried in dead animals, plants, waste, etc.)
- the lives of bugs
- the "yuck factor" (accentuating the positive side of yucky habits, ex: dung beetles eating dung)
- why bugs do what they do
- transformation from larva to adult
- how many bugs exist in one place at one time
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