Extensions
- Run the same mealworm choice trial with food on both sides, or warm/cold, or two food choices, or obstacle courses.
- Discuss fear of darkness. Read I'm Afraid of the Dark by Marcia Neese.
- Sing the Mealworm song to the tune of "Pop Goes the Weasel."
- Using cookie dough, roll the cookies to make mealworm cookies.
- Have the students keep the mealworms in the classroom until they complete their metamorphosis. Keep your mealworms in a container with sufficient food for several weeks. Examine them regularly, at least once a week. The larvae should turn into white pupae that wiggle vigorously when picked up. In one to two weeks, adults should appear. They are dark brown and very agile. This process of changing form is called metamorphosis. Read a book about metamorphosis in insects. Observe the students' reactions. Discuss how the mealworms change to become a pupa and then a beetle. "How do they look?" Have them draw each stage. Make sure they note the non-moveable legs in the pupa.
Words with Special Meanings
(for understanding only, not to be tested)
- Appropriate: acceptable.
- Conflict: a difficult decision between two choices.
- Consequence: the result of a behavior or decision.
- Decision: to make up your mind.
- Emotion: strong feeling.
- Hypothesis (hypotheses, plural): a tentative explanation for a question that can be tested using experimentation.
- Observe: to look at and pay special attention to what something does, what it looks like, and how it changes.
- Predict: to guess what you believe will happen.
- Respect: to be considerate and accepting of someone and what they do.
- Solve: find an answer for a problem.
Bibliography
Backyard Bugs. National Geographic Society video.
Grifalconi, Ann. Darkness and the Butterfly. Boston: Little, Brown, and Company, 1987
Hoban, Russell. Bread and Jam for Frances. New York: Scholastic/Harper and Row, 1962.
Kellogg, Steven. Much Bigger Than Martin. New York: Dial Books, 1976
Neese, Marcia. I'm Afraid of the Dark. Bel Air, MD: Baker Street Productions (Little Brown and Co.), 1984
Webster, David. Teacher's Guide for Behavior of Mealworms. Elementary Science Study. Nashua, NH: Delta Education, 1966
Yoshi. The Butterfly Hunt. Saxonville, MA: Picture Book Studios, 1990.
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