RNA EDITING

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TED 5357-0325
Peggy Lane
Teaching Science and Health to Elementary Students
BUGSCOPE ASSIGNMENT WASP
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STEP ONE TWO WEBSITES

• Website 1
• http//www.everythingabout.net/articles/biology/a
  nimals/arthropods/insects/wasps/
• Website 2
• http//www.kendall-bioresearch.co.uk/wasp.htm

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STEP ONE SUMMARY

• A wasp is the name associated to a species of
  insects that include the sawflies, parasitic
  wasps, and stinging wasps. There are about 75,000
  species of wasps and almost all of them are
  considered parasitic. Sawflies and parasitic
  wasps do not build nests. They lay their eggs on
  a host plant or animal and then leave to find
  food or more hosts for their eggs. The eggs
  develop on their own. However, the stinging wasp
  does build nests and live in societies. Their
  nests are mostly made of splinters of wood that
  are chewed into paper like material. It consists
  of several horizontal ties within and can become
  the size of a football or larger. For these
  wasps, the nests are where they develop their
  young. Many of these nests also have an outer
  covering where entire colonies live. This is what
  is known as the hornets nest that could house
  thousands of adult wasps. The nest usually hangs
  from an overhead structure or ceiling and has a
  hole at the bottom.
• Only female wasps have a stinger. The queen wasps
  are large and have a poison-sac and sting at the
  tip of the abdomen. The male wasps do not. The
  offspring of the queen become the workers of the
  colony. The workers are responsible for building
  the nests and feeding the colony throughout the
  summertime. Most wasps are parasitic and eat
  other insects. Once the workers find a
  caterpillar, they paralyze it with their sting,
  bring it back to the nest, chew it up and feed it
  to their young. The adult wasps are entirely
  vegetarian. They feed on flower nectar, fruit or
  any other sweet nectar they can find. The wasps
  help protect pest populations by feeding on
  insects that destroy crops and other vegetation.
  In many ways, the wasp colonies reduce the need
  for pesticides to control agricultural pests.
• At the end of summer, the colonies produce male
  and female wasps (young queens). Once they leave
  the nest to mate, the colony withers and dies due
  to lack of food in the autumn. Only the young,
  mated queen survives the winter via hibernation
  and begins to build new nests the following
  spring.

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STEP TWO MY PICTURE
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STEP TWO WHAT HAS CHANGED and WHY?

• Added honeycomb-like structures to the eyes of
  the wasp.
• Added hooks to the wasp claws as indicated
  using the Bugscope microscope.
• Added hair-like follicles on the wasp head, legs
  and wings. Added ribbed lines to the wasp wings.
• These changes were made as they were indicated
  using the Scanning Electron Microscope that
  showed the eyes of the wasp were not smooth, but
  had a honeycomb structure throughout. The claws
  had noticeable sharp hooks at the end of them, I
  suppose for grasping onto objects and prey. The
  microscope also visibly showed hair-like
  follicles that encompassed the wasp from its head
  throughout its body, wings, and legs.

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STEP THREE WASP IMAGES

• Wasp wing

Wasp eye
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STEP THREE WASP IMAGES

• Wasp head

Wasp claw
All images supplied by bugscope.beckman.illinois
. edu
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STEP THREE CA CONTENT STANDARDS

• Grade Three Life Sciences
• Adaptations in physical structure or behavior may
  improve an organisms chance for survival. As a
  basis for understanding this concept
• a. Students know plants and animals have
  structures that serve different functions in
  growth, survival, and reproduction.

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STEP THREE HOW DOES IT APPLY?

• The standard is applicable to the Bugscope
• learning environment because
• Bugscope allows students to see in remarkable
  detail the different structures of the animal.
• Based on this observation, students are able to
  identify what function the structure (eye, head,
  wing, claw, etc.) might have in the growth,
  survival, and reproduction of the animal.

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STEP THREE AUTHENTICITY OF TECHNOLOGY

• The use of microscopes and
• Scanning Electron Microscopes
• allows students to observe animal
• structures with unprecedented detail.
• Due to this, the students and scientists are able
  to
• discover important information on the particular
• animal that may not have been previously
• understood or recognized.

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STEP THREE LITERATURE SOURCES

• Chute, Eleanor. "Sixth-Graders Get to Look into
  Eye of What Bigs Them." Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
  Pittsburgh, PA. 4 Nov. 2008.
• Dain, Alina. "Kids Catch Science Bug With
  Bugscope." Medill Reports Chicago. Urbana, IL.
  13 May 2009.
• Heckel, Jodi. "UI's Bugscope Gives Area Students
  Personal Look at Insects." The News-Gazette.
  Champaign, IL. 7 Oct. 2008.

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STEP THREE APPLICATION OF BUGSCOPE

• Bugscope can be applied to
• Mathematics as students observe
• and understand magnification of X - times normal
  
• size of animal under observation.
• Students can also apply the principals of
  Bugscope
• to Language-Arts instruction. The act of
  writing
• ones observation, analysis, and evaluation in
• journals is an important part of the scientific
• process.