Department of Biology

RISE Network event from 12 July 2017!

Posted on July 19, 2017

Faulkner Elementary School 4th Grade Summer Campers visit UNCG for a campus tour and fun day learning science, courtesy of UNCG Biology and Chemistry Department Graduate Students and Instructors.  The event was sponsored by the UNCG RISE Network.

Joseph Mwangi, Jennifer Simpson and Joe Wang from the Chemistry Department exposed the kids to the different types of polymers and how these polymers are made. The students made different shapes, sizes, and colors of blobs and wiggly worms by mixing two liquids, sodium alginate and calcium chloride solution which on contact produces the polymer.

Peter Blum, an instructor from the Biology Department, introduced students to insect anatomy, with a special focus on insect mouthparts and how they relate to the ecological roles of insects. They discussed the essential anatomy of insects, and how they are different from other invertebrates, such as spiders. After this, they talked about how different mouthparts allow insects to eat different kinds of food, using images and posters. To demonstrate what they learned, students used props representing insect mouthparts to “eat” different kinds of foods.

Christopher Hylton, a graduate student from the Biology Department, taught the students about fruit flies. He brought in fruit flies at various stages of life, talked about their life cycle, and allowed the students to observe some flies.

Kimber Corson, a Biology graduate student, demonstrated how pollution from humans will affect local wetland habitats by simulating debris dumping into the water and using cooking oil to simulate an oil spill. The students learned that it is easy to get trash out of the water, but getting oil out of the water is harder and why this is important.