Milkweed Bugs, Wednesday June 10, 2020

My last observation was last Tuesday, so it’s been more than a week. This will be my last observation of the school year.

• Mini-habitat #1 I see several new clutches including a very large on glue to the side of the bag next to the cotton.  (See photo)

• Mini-habitat #2 I observed some new cutches in this habitat as well.   (See photo)

• Mini-habitat #4 Active mating going on with one pair - there is at least one clutch in the cotton. (See photos) 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Mini-habitat #5 There is a huge, reddish clutch in this habitat. One pair was mating when I looked today.  (See picture)
  
  
  
  
  
  

• Mini-habitat - Extras - As usual, there is a lot of activity in this bag. I did not see any clutches, but it’s difficult to see with all the discarded exoskeletons, feces and dead bugs. (See picture)
  

I have not heard back from the central office about what to do with these bugs when school is done. We have been told not to release them. I suggested someone else take them for the Summer & Fall and then, instead of buying new ones next year, we could use our own. No response yet.

This is the end of the Populations and Ecosystems unit. We didn’t cover as much as I wanted too, but we did go over some of the basics.  

Have an enjoyable summer. 

If you're going to summer school - work hard - excel - put yourself in a position to have a fantastic 8th grade!

Stay safe!!!

Contact information: 

Remind: text @497h7k to 81010

Email: mmckellar@lowell.k12.ma.us

Milkweed Bugs, Tuesday, June 2, 2020

My last observation was last Tuesday, so it’s been a week.   

• Mini-habitat #1 I guess the offspring are mature, there’s mating going on all over the place.  (See photo)

• Mini-habitat #2 I saw mating going on in this habitat as well.   (See photo)
  

• Mini-habitat #4 We have reached some sort of a tipping point, because we have mating going on here too. The bugs don’t seem to be bothered by the mold, so I’m going to leave it there instead of risking a mass escape. (See photo) 

• Mini-habitat #5 I saw two pairs mating in this habitat today.  (See picture)

• Mini-habitat - Extras - I see mating here too. This bag is a mosh-mosh of large, small and medium sized bugs, discarded exoskeletons, and dead bugs. What a mess.   (See picture)
  

I have not heard back from the central office about what to do with these bugs when school is done. We have been told not to release them. I suggested someone else take them for the Summer & Fall and then, instead of buying new ones next year, we could use our own. No response yet. Secret code word: Escape

I will make more observations on later this week…watch your email for a notification of when I post.  

Stay safe!

Contact information: 

Remind: text @497h7k to 81010

Email: mmckellar@lowell.k12.ma.us

Milkweed Bugs, Wednesday, May 27, 2020

My last observation was last Tuesday, so it’s been a week.   

• Mini-habitat #1 My masking tape experiment did not change their behavior. Even with the sun blocked out over their usual grouping spot, they still grouped up.  I’m not sure what that’s about, but it’s happening in all the bags. Maybe they just group up in the highest parts of the milkweed plants… (See photo)

• Mini-habitat #2 I have not taken the moldy food bag out yet, I’ll do that this week.   (See photo)

• Mini-habitat #4 Judging by their size, we have a lot of mature bugs now. I have not seen any mating yet in this bag. (See photo) 
  

• Mini-habitat #5 Still no evidence of mating. This water container ran dry, so I filled it up a lot, this time. (See picture)
  

• Mini-habitat - Extras - Still no evidence of mating. I would expect to see that behavior in this bag first, just because there are so many bugs in here.   (See picture)
  

I am beginning to think about the end of school. What do I do with all these bugs?  I can not release them into the wild, they have been breed to eat only sunflower seeds and I do not have any sunflowers near me. Hmmmmmmmmm...

I will make more observations on later this week…watch your email for a notification of when I post.  

Stay safe!

Contact information: 

Remind: text @497h7k to 81010

Email: mmckellar@lowell.k12.ma.us

Milkweed Bugs, Tuesday, May 19, 2020

My last observation was Monday, so it’s been four days since then.  We’ve had a big development with one of the mini-habitats.

• Mini-habitat #1 There is still a large group of bugs near the top of the bag. I am going to do a test to see if it’s air or light or something else they are seeking. I places a piece of masking tape over the top of the bag. The air holes are still open but this will provide shade from the sun. We’ll see what happens. (See photos)

• Mini-habitat #2 Mold has begun to grow on the food supply. I will have to replace that. Fortnately, I still have the food bags from some of the habitats that I disassembled.  (See photo)
  

• Mini-habitat #4 There is also mold on this food bag. I wonder why we suddenly have mold growing. What has changed since we started? (See photo) 

• Mini-habitat #5 I saw a behavior today I have not see before. Two bugs seemed to be fighting or wrestling together. I wonder if this was an attempt at mating (See picture)

• Mini-habitat - Extras - Lots of bugs near the air holes. I took a picture of a group of exoskeletons.   (See picture)

We are down to five active habitats now. I can no longer identify any of the original adults we started with. Some may still be in the bags, but the offspring are so large, I can not tell them apart any more.

I will make more observations on Saturday of this week…watch your email for a notification of when I post.  

Stay safe!

Contact information: 

Remind: text @497h7k to 81010

Email: mmckellar@lowell.k12.ma.us

Why We Science

One of the questions I’m often asked by students is, “Why do we have to learn this?”

My answer is generally something like, “It’s important to have a fundamental understanding of how the world works.”

Maybe the best way to explain what I mean is by this example:

If someone told you this is how to bake brownies, you’d say that’s ridiculous. Even a four-year-old could tell you this is not the way to bake brownies. That small child has enough understanding of how to the world works to say this is wrong. 

It’s that little voice in the pre-schooler’s head saying, “Nooooo, you have to mix it all up first,” that we’re teaching in science classes.  We're teaching the voice.

It’s really not about facts and such. It’s about having enough information about the world, gathered through systematic observation and experimentation, and then applying that information in a critical way.  That’s what we call “science.” 

Science is the process not the end result.

If you don’t have this foundational understanding, you have no basis to evaluate what’s happening around you.

Think about all that is happening in our country today. We’re in the midst of a pandemic that has killed over 5,700 people in Massachusetts (as of 5/16). Think about all the conflicting things you are seeing on social media. Having an understanding of how the world really works puts you in a much better position to evaluate what you are seeing and hearing.

I watched a few minutes of a video that was being shared a lot on social media. Within a few minutes I could hear that little voice in my head saying “There’s something wrong here. This is not accurate. These people are twisting things around to support their own goals.” 

If you don’t understand how things work, you can’t separate good, reliable information from agenda-driven nonsense.

We study a little bit of a lot of things in middle school. We don’t go very deep on any one topic but we cover a lot of different topics. That’s why, in two years, we study: 

Engineering: Communication Systems 

Electromagnetic Forces,

Weather and Water, 

Populations and Ecosystems, 

Engineering: Bridges

Chemistry,

Heredity and Adaptations (Genetics),

Gravity,

Planetary Science (Space & Astronomy)

We cover a lot of ground in two years.

We’re trying to teach you how things work and interact at a very basic level. This helps get you ready for high school, college and life.  

It’s important to have a fundamental understanding of how the world works.

That’s why we science.

Milkweed Bugs, Friday, May 15, 2020

My last observation was Monday, so it’s been four days since then.  We've had a big development with one of the min-habitats.

• Mini-habitat #1 A group of milkweed bugs was still clustered around the air holes near the top. I do not know if this is about air, or maybe sunlight because that part of the bag gets more light, or something else. (See photo)

• Mini-habitat #2 There are three distinct groups of bugs in various places in the habitat. I wonder if this clustering is a behavior typical of milkweed bugs.  (See photo)

• Mini-habitat #4 There is a large group of bugs clustered together near the air holes. I do not know what the behavior is about. Are they getting enough air? (See photo) 
  

• Mini-habitat #5 The largest of these bugs are much smaller than the ones in the Extras habitat. I see some clutches in the cotton. (See picture)

• Mini-habitat #7 The last adult died this week. This is the last observation of this habitat. This pair never had offspring. I do not know why.  

• Mini-habitat - Extras - Some of these bugs are nearly full sized. I can’t tell the adults we started with from their largest offspring.  (See picture)

My wife peeked in while I was doing these observations. She was grossed out by all the bugs hanging in bags on the back of my office door. 

I will make more observations on Tuesday of next week…watch your email for a notification of when I post. Secret code word: Goodbye Seven.

Stay safe!

Contact information: 

Remind: text @497h7k to 81010

Email: mmckellar@lowell.k12.ma.us