Comments

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  Brian Kniola July 27, 2022 at 12:20pm

  Hello everyone! I will be doing insect/ arachnid education/ presentations for K-6th in AZ. I’m working on developing lesson plans for each grade. If anyone has any recommended resources or input for each grade level, I would be grateful.
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  Christine McCoy October 13, 2021 at 7:00pm

  Hello all! I was recruited by a dear friend to do an online introduction to entomology for 2nd graders. Before I start from scratch, I thought I would start here. Any and all ideas are welcome - ilovefleas@gmail.com. Thank you!
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  Surya Saha August 23, 2020 at 9:53pm

  Arthropod Genomics (i5k) session at Biodiversity Genomics meeting (5-9 Oct, virtual!)
  
  
  Dear All,
  
  Please forward this invite to your members.
  
  You are all warmly invited to attend this year's Arthropod Genomics (i5k) session in the Biodiversity Genomics meeting, being held in a virtual format from wherever you are! We are inviting talk and virtual poster submissions from students and early career researchers for all types of insect genomics projects. From 5-9 October, we will have thematic sessions on genomics grouped around “Regional, National and International Projects”, “Taxon-focussed Projects”, “Systems Approaches” and “Technology Advances”. Each will have a dedicated or shared workshop session, and a dedicated poster session and meeting room. The final program will be posted on the website soon.
  
  Registration is for access to the meeting; there is no fee.
  
  Full details and the registration link are available at:
  https://www.sanger.ac.uk/science/biodiversity-genomics-2020/
  
  
  
  Key Dates and Deadlines
  
  Meeting registration open: NOW
  Poster and talk abstract submission open: NOW
  Talk abstract submission close: 1 September 2020
  Notification of speaker choices: 10 September 2020
  Poster abstract submission close: 20 September 2020
  Registration to attend closes: 2 October 2020
  Meeting starts: 15:00 BST, 5 October 2020
  
  
  Technical
  
  Each day of the meeting will have a similar flow. We will open an hour in advance (15:00 GMT) with poster and social rooms. We will also organise discussion fora with panels discussing Diversity and Inclusion, Earth Biogenome project in Lower and Middle income Nations, Early Careers issues and Funding. The days’ formal activities will start at 16:00 GMT with a 1 hr plenary session, broadcast to all. This will be followed by two sets of 1 hr themed workshop sessions. The meeting will finish each day with a social and poster session from 19:00 to 20:00 GMT. More information about the web-based tools to use for discussions and video conferencing will be posted on the website soon.
  
  
  We already have many registered participants and hope to see you there for lively discussions on the latest advances in arthropod genomics!
  
  Best wishes,
  Dorith Rotenberg and Surya Saha
  On behalf of the organizing committee

  https://www.sanger.ac.uk/science/biodiversity-genomics-2020/
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  Cheri M. Abraham July 20, 2020 at 4:17pm

  Dear fellow entomologists/ insect trivia enthusiasts,
  Here is an opportunity to fill out this quick survey (less than a minute) of just 8 questions and a chance to win a $25 Amazon gift card. we are conducting market research about a mobile version of an insect trivia quiz bowl. If you would also forward this to other insect trivia enthusiasts, that would be great. #entomology #bugtrivia #insecttrivia
  https://forms.gle/r6FzMTbGjMiD5vtE6
  Thanks in advance.
  
  BugIQ.trivia Team
  Cheri
  http://linkedin.com/in/cheri-abraham
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  Francine McCullough May 15, 2020 at 12:27pm

  Hello Jennifer. Are you aware of the Citizen Science website SciStarter ? If it's not a hard requirement that they design the experiment, this may be worth looking into. There's at least one survey project currently listed that would cover taxonomy & ecology. With guidance, the second quarter could transition into answering an independent research question.
  
  https://scistarter.org/never-home-alone-the-wild-life-of-our-homes

  

  Never Home Alone: The Wild Life of Our Homes - SciStarter

  In studying life, scientists have overlooked many regions. Some regions have not been studied because they are so remote. Others because they are so…
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  Jennifer Donovan May 14, 2020 at 9:57am

  I will be teaching a 12th grade Independent Research course during the 2020-2021 school year that will be embedding in entomology. With the pandemic still raging here in New York and the very real possibility that I will be teaching a good portion of the course online, I need to think about how can my students design and conduct a research project from home and no access to labs. For context, these students will have had a biology, chemistry and physics class and some introduction to genetics through their biology course. They will be getting a primer on insect biology, taxonomy and ecology in the first quarter, before they start any research. These are highly motivated and smart 12th graders who would take up anything I threw their way. Do anyone have any ideas?
  • 

    Ted Snyder > Jennifer Donovan May 14, 2020 at 11:21am

    Is the project open inquiry? Can they get outside to collect data, and if so, are they urban, suburban, rural? Is the data collection second quarter? Does it have to be on insects. or could it be a lichen project?
    
    I'm an entomologist and a teacher in Wisconsin, and I'm considering what to do for my students.
  • 

    Callie Freeman > Jennifer Donovan May 14, 2020 at 11:00am

    How about insect population sampling/diversity studies/insect conservation with trapping and collecting. Are they all doing individual projects? If not you could probably even publish their findings if you help them standardize their methods and they co-author a paper.
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    Edward Beary > Jennifer Donovan May 14, 2020 at 10:57am

    Being in NY, I see the main issue will be dealing with the weather. This will limit access to many insects unless the students have understanding parents allowing them to keep insects at home. There is more than enough material available for them to work with fruitflies for some genetic work inside and other insects which may need some getting use to such as roaches and ants which may be more locally available than the parents want to admit.
    You might need to order the material for them since there are some limitations on what they will be able to purchase for shipping to their homes. Both Carolina and VWR(Wards) have a variety of material to choose. Fisher has an education branch as well.
    The first thing I would do is ask the students what they have around their homes, inside and out which they could make use. Things like a detached, heated garage or attic. Hobbies which they might rethink for alternate use, available tools and skills. Do they have a 3D printer, access to power tools - maybe a parent does wood working or electronics as a hobby.
    Get them to think outside the box (School Lab) and give you some insight into some of the limitation the students may need to work with. Then discuss with them the areas you think are possible projects for them to work on given their inventory of options they have at home. Motivated students would hopefully have at least one motivate parent willing to provide assistance with supplies if not tolerance of what they might be doing at home. Confounding issues may be siblings, single parent household, renting vs own home. My impression is that home schooling is a new issue which most parents and students will need to learn along with the teachers.