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City Kids Learn About Bugs and More - November 2006
November 6, 2006
UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. – What kinds of insects are there? Where do they live? What do they eat? Answers to these questions and more were answered at Penn State’s Bug Camps for Kids, held every summer at the University Park campus.
At both the Bug Camp and Advanced Bug Camp, students got to learn about insect identification, habitat and collection. At the advanced camp, students focused on insect biology to explore scientific research, says Maryann Frazier, senior extension associate in entomology at Penn State and camp organizer. “The goal of the camp is to help kids understand the scientific method and its strengths and limitations through hands-on activities,” she explains.
Last summer, seven students from Philadelphia received scholarships from a Penn State service-learning program to attend the Advanced Bug Camp. Several of the students were from Shaw Middle School in Southwest Philadelphia and also participate in the school’s “Pest Patrol”, a Penn State service-learning project.
The project aims to alleviate potential problems with pests such as cockroaches, ants, rats and weeds by empowering students, teachers and the community to implement integrated pest management strategies, or IPM. IPM is a kid-safe, economical, and scientific approach to managing pests. IPM integrates knowledge of pest identity and biology with pest monitoring so that action, if needed, can be taken at just the right time. In addition, IPM uses a combination of management tactics that are more likely to be safe and effective.
The IPM service-learning program was initiated at Shaw several years ago by the Pennsylvania IPM Program and Nicole Webster, Penn State professor of agricultural and extension education, and is implemented and managed by a team consisting of Penn State education specialists, schoolteachers and PA IPM personnel. “Under the team’s direction, a group of sixth, seventh, and eighth grade students formed a “Pest Patrol” to learn about the benefits of using IPM in their school to manage roaches, flies, and mice indoors and address other environmental issues in a service-learning format,” says Michelle Niedermeier, coordinator for the Philadelphia School and Community IPM Partnership.
At the camp, the students got to explore four different labs on campus that use insects to make scientific discoveries, including the Frost Entomology Museum and the Insect Physiology Laboratory. According to Frazier, the students formed teams to design and conduct experiments to answer their questions and test their hypotheses. “Experimental data was collected and interpreted and the results were shared in creative and innovative ways, including computer presentations, posters, and slide shows,” she says.
The advanced camp is open to children ages 10-14 who have already attended Bug Camp for Kids, and/or participated in the "Catch the Bug" 4-H project, or can provide a letter from a teacher indicating experience and enthusiasm. Bug Camp for Kids is offered for 8-11 year olds through the entomology department. For more information on the bug camps, visit Web site http://www.ento.psu.edu/Scied/BugCamp.html.
The PA IPM program is a collaboration between Penn State and the Pennsylvania Department of Agriculture aimed at promoting IPM in both urban and agricultural situations. The PA IPM program's Web site at http://paipm.cas.psu.edu contains a wealth of information about the school IPM effort in Pennsylvania and educational materials from across the country. For more information on service learning, visit Penn State’s Agricultural & Extension web site at http://servicelearning.cas.psu.edu/WhatIs.html.
Established in 1963, Penn State’s Department of Entomology has grown into a well-balanced department providing undergraduate education, graduate student training and extension outreach education focusing on both domestic and international issues. Twenty faculty and more than thirty graduate students work on a variety of research topics providing insights into insect ecology, behavior and molecular biology as well as integrated pest management. The department is part of Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences. For more information about solving insect problems, descriptions of research and education programs or admission to the graduate program, visit Web site at http://www.ento.psu.edu/ or contact the department at (814) 865-1895.