Genetically Modified Insect

The January 2012 issue of PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases presented an Editorial, a Viewpoint, and two accompanying Expert Commentaries that focussed on the application of genetically modified (GM) insects for control of animal and plant diseases. These articles describe the technological advances these tools represent, the regulatory framework, and the societal dialogue that is necessary for their wide-scale application for disease control. Here, we have assembled a collection of articles published in the PLOS journals that describe the technical and applied aspects of GM insects. We also included articles that are not strictly GM, but aim to modify the disease transmission traits of insects through the use of symbiotic microbes.

Material Type: Data Set, Primary Source

Incredible Insect Mouths

This lesson shows children that insects have different kinds of mouths. It also notes the kinds of foods that different insects eat. It is a hands-on experiment type of lesson in which the children act as insects and use different tools for their "mouths."

Material Type: Teaching/Learning Strategy

Author: Kelly Stewart

Corn Rootworm: Small insect, big impact

Corn rootworm can cause devastating effects to corn yields.  The focus of this lesson is the ongoing research of scientists as they work to combat the resistance of Corn rootworm to control measures.  The importance of this research in developing Insect Resistance Management strategies is discussed.

Material Type: Lesson Plan

Get This Bug Off Me!

It's a natural reaction to be frightened of some insects. Many insects have the ability to harm people, and many insects look very menacing. However, many large insects are not harmful at all. Because it would take several volumes to describe every insect, this publication is intended to distinguish several common insects and insect relatives in Kentucky that are or are not harmful.

Material Type: Reading

Author: Stephanie Bailey

Backyard Bug Bonanza

Step outside and discover the diversity of insect life in your neighborhood. Insects are the world’s most diverse group of living things, with over 950,000 identified species and counting. You might think that you’d need to travel to the Amazon to study insects, but they can be found practically everywhere—including right where you happen to be.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Bug-Go

Bug-go is designed to help the players learn to identify some insects while learning which insects are beneficial and interesting facts about others. The game should be played similar to the game bingo.

Material Type: Game

Author: Patricia L. Lucas

Migration of the Monarch

This video segment from NOVA: "The Mystery of Animal Pathfinders" explores the migratorial exploits of monarch butterflies.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: National Science Foundation, WGBH Educational Foundation

How Do Beetles Reproduce?

Every living thing must be able to reproduce and make offspring. Most of us are familiar with how humans and mammals make babies, but do all creatures reproduce in the same way? Do insects, like the beetle, give birth to little insects? Also in: French | Spanish

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Game, Lesson Plan

Authors: Dr. Biology, Jenny Drnevich

Did You Know Butterflies are Legally Blind?

As you watch a butterfly navigate the flowers in your back yard, or a pesky fly avoid your flyswatter, keep in mind their vision is quite different than yours and mine.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Game, Lesson Plan

Authors: Kasey Yturralde, Sabine Deviche

Ants

Students will read and observer ants to discover how ants are the same and different than people.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Lesson Plan

Collecting Ants

There are several different ways to get ants for an ant farm, depending on when you would like to start the farm and how long you would like for your ant farm to last.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Game, Lesson Plan

Authors: Rebecca Clark, Sabine Deviche

Migrating Monarchs

Thousands of orange and black shapes flutter through the trees. Welcome to one of the few wintering homes of the monarch butterfly. Also in: Spanish

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Game, Lesson Plan

Authors: Dr. Biology, Tracy Fuentes

Backyard Bugs

This video segment from Wild TV takes a closer look at backyard bugs, their habitat and characteristics.

Material Type: Lecture

Decomposers

Without the work of decomposers, living organisms would eventually use up all the raw materials in the environment, and dead organisms and wastes would pile up. This video segment from Interactive NOVA: "Earth" describes the role of decomposers as the earth's great recyclers.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: National Science Foundation, WGBH Educational Foundation

Ant Farm

Farming ants might sound like a crazy thing to do unless you might like to eat chocolate covered ants. It turns out we can learn a lot from ants and the best way is to build your own ant farm.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Game, Lesson Plan

Authors: Rebecca Clark, Sabine Deviche

Bee-ing in a Swarm

Learn about bees, their habitat and how to interact with a swarm in this Wild TV video segment.

Material Type: Lecture

What's the buzz about bees and the bee genome?

An interview with biologist Gro Amdam, one of the members of the group that brought us the bee genome. Hey just what is a genome and could bees hold the answer to aging? In this show we learn the answers to these questions and why researchers are buzzing around bees.

Material Type: Activity/Lab, Game, Lesson Plan

Authors: Audio editor, Charles Kazilek, Dr. Biology

Bees

In this video segment from WILD TV, learn about bees and the different techniques for handling them.

Material Type: Lecture

Face to Face with Ants

Imagine being the size of an ant. Be careful - a face-to-face encounter with an ant would be scary and potentially life-threatening! But, if you avoided being eaten, you could learn a lot about ant anatomy from a close-up view. Ants have many body parts that are normally hard to see without a magnifying glass or microscope. And each structure has its own special function.

Material Type: Lesson Plan

Authors: Dr. Biology, Sabine Deviche, Tate Holbrook

Bees: The Invaluable Master Pollinators

The study of biomimicry and sustainable design promises great benefits in design applications, offering cost-effective, resourceful, non-polluting avenues for new enterprise. An important final caveat for students to understand is that once copied, species are not expendable. Biomimicry is intended to help people by identifying natural functions from which to pattern human-driven services. Biomimicry was never intended to replace species. Ecosystems remain in critical need of ongoing protection and biodiversity must be preserved for the overall health of the planet. This activity addresses the negative ramifications of species decline. For example, pollinators such as bees are a vital work force in agriculture. They perform an irreplaceable task in ensuring the harvest of most fruit and vegetable crops. In the face of the unexplained colony collapse disorder, we are only now beginning to understand how invaluable these insects are in keeping food costs down and even making the existence of these foods possible for humans.

Material Type: Activity/Lab

Authors: Amber Spolarich, Wendy J. Holmgren