{"id":10714,"date":"2024-04-11T11:28:28","date_gmt":"2024-04-11T16:28:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin-new\/?post_type=campus_story&p=10714"},"modified":"2024-04-11T11:28:28","modified_gmt":"2024-04-11T16:28:28","slug":"bugging-out-uw-la-crosse-grad-students-give-local-children-an-intro-to-insects","status":"publish","type":"campus_story","link":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/story\/bugging-out-uw-la-crosse-grad-students-give-local-children-an-intro-to-insects\/","title":{"rendered":"Bugging out: UW-La Crosse grad students give local children an intro to insects"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"Photo<\/a>
Graduates students from Professor Barrett Klein’s biology lab shared a lesson on insects with children from Red Balloon Early Learning Center in La Crosse.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

La Crosse\u2019s Red Balloon Early Learning Center buzzed with excitement last week as UWL graduate students taught children about the creepy, crawly world of insects.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Led by students from\u00a0Professor Barrett Klein\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0biology lab, the children learned about insect biology, created their own bugs from Play-Doh and even had the chance to pet a hissing cockroach.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIntroducing younger kids to insects hands-on is always a wonderful opportunity,\u201d says graduate student Bug Hartsock, who is so passionate about insects that they\u00a0legally changed their name<\/a>. \u201cIt’s never too early to instill a genuine connection to nature and empathy toward the tiny but impactful organisms all around us.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Photo<\/a>
Inspecting a hissing cockroach. Despite the name, they are harmless to humans.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\u201cI was excited to share the insects with all the children,\u201d graduate student Drew Lysaker adds. \u201cIt was neat to see them realize how many different insects exist out there and that insects can be fun\u00a0and colorful!\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Graduate student Ericka Bjorngaard says it was rewarding to see the children absorb the lesson and then let their imaginations run.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI especially enjoyed watching the children create their own insects with Play-Doh,\u201d Bjorngaard says. \u201cBeing able to do an art project alongside observing the insects made the experience memorable for the littles, hopefully for years to come!\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The event, organized by\u00a0UWL Community Engagement<\/a>\u00a0in partnership with the\u00a0UWL Biology Department<\/a>\u00a0and Red Balloon, was mutually beneficial.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It gave the graduate students hands-on experience working with children and adapting their lessons for a young, beginner-level audience. And it gave the children an opportunity to expand their knowledge of insects after learning about them in recent weeks.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe kids can\u2019t stop talking about it,\u201d says Jennifer Lucey, a teacher at Red Balloon. \u201cWe love working with UWL and can\u2019t wait to collaborate again!\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Danielle Hudson, another graduate student who presented at Red Balloon, says the lessons served one other important purpose. They drove home the point that insects can be appreciated for what they are, rather than feared for how they look.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe can share the beauty and diversity of insects and be met with curiosity and engagement instead of fear,\u201d Hudson says. \u201cHopefully, it will stick with them and influence their future perspective on these ecologically important critters!\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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\"Photo:<\/a>
After learning about insect biology, children created bugs out of Play-Doh.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
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Written by UW-La Crosse<\/p>\n

Link to original story: https:\/\/www.uwlax.edu\/news\/posts\/bugging-out\/<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

La Crosse\u2019s Red Balloon Early Learning Center buzzed with excitement last week as UWL graduate students taught children about the creepy, crawly world of insects.\u00a0 Led by students from\u00a0Professor Barrett Klein\u2019s\u00a0biology lab, the children learned about insect biology, created their own bugs from Play-Doh and even had the chance to pet a hissing cockroach.\u00a0 \u201cIntroducing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"featured_media":10715,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","institution":[104],"story_category":[],"class_list":["post-10714","campus_story","type-campus_story","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","institution-uw-la-crosse"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story\/10714","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/campus_story"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/campus_story"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10714"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10715"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10714"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"institution","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/institution?post=10714"},{"taxonomy":"story_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.wisconsin.edu\/all-in-wisconsin\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/story_category?post=10714"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}