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Bug Treats?

By Janice VanCleave

Question: Do some people really eat bugs? Answer: Yes, some people eat bugs as part of their diet.  The practice of eating insects is called entomophagy. Insects are high in nutritional value, low in fat and inexpensive. Sounds like the perfect choice for a low-cal diet. Instead of spending money on sprays to kill roaches, […]

Filed Under: Biology, Insects Tagged With: cultural taboo, eating bugs, Insects

Using Crayons to Teach Classification

By Janice VanCleave

Classification

A Fun Classification Activity for Young Learners What Does Classification Mean? Classification is another name for organizing things. The children shown are helping me test one of my activities about classification. I wanted to know if very young kids could do a simple classification activity. The kids were instructed to find as many crayons of […]

Filed Under: Biology Tagged With: classification, young learners

Paramecium Model

By Janice VanCleave

Pond water has some living creatures that are so small they can be seen only with a microscope. Some of these creatures are made of only one cell, such as a paramecium. This tiny water critter is often called a “slipper animal” because it looks like the sole of a shoe. Paramecium move around in […]

Filed Under: Biology Tagged With: microorganism, model, nucleus, paramecium

Heredity

By Janice VanCleave

fruit fly brown eyes

Facts: gene A sequence of DNA that occupies a specific location on a chromosome and determines a particular characteristic in an organism. For example: The gene for eye color. allele One member of a pair of genes that occupy a specific position on a specific chromosome. dominant allele Represented by a capital letter. The gene […]

Filed Under: Biology Tagged With: DNA, fruit flies, gender, punnett square

Butterfly Anatomy

By Janice VanCleave

Abdomen (noun) – The third and last segment of an insect’s body, located at the tail end.The heart, reproductive organs and much of the digestive system are located in an insect’s abdomen. Antenna (noun, plural: antennae) – one of a pair of slender structures located on the head of some insects. Butterfly antennae are used for balance, detecting […]

Filed Under: Biology, Insects Tagged With: butterfly

Alexander Graham Bell

By Janice VanCleave

Alexander Graham Bell Makes a Human Skull Appear to Scream Alexander Graham Bell (1847-1922) was born in Edinburgh, Scotland. Alexander was the middle son of Alexander Melville Bell and Eliza Grace Symonds. His mother was a portrait painter and accomplished musician. She was hard of hearing, but with the help of an ear tube, which […]

Filed Under: Biology, Physics Tagged With: Alexander G. Bell, Biography

Why Popcorn Pops!

By Janice VanCleave

Popcorn

A popcorn kernel has a hard outer shell called the pericarp. Inside the pericarp is the corn seed, which contains an embryo (living part that develops into a corn plant), endosperm (starchy food for embryo) and water. When you heat popcorn by using a microwave, hot air or hot oil, the water inside boils producing […]

Filed Under: Biology Tagged With: cellulose, crystalline solid, popcorn, seed

Food Web

By Janice VanCleave

The arrows in a food chain are drawn from the food source to the food consumer.  The arrow is a symbol for the words–“Eaten by.” In other words, in the diagram, the little fish is eaten by the medium size fish and the medium size fish is eaten by the big fish. A food chain […]

Filed Under: Biology Tagged With: food chain, food web

Sock Classification

By Janice VanCleave

My feet get very cold, and I wear warm socks most of the time. Yesterday, I managed to put on two different socks. Since my office is in my home, I didn’t care if the socks matched. But, later in the day my husband needed me to attend a business meeting with him. YEP! I […]

Filed Under: Biology

Hair Color

By Janice VanCleave

Have you ever seen a dog with pink hair?I have! FYI: The Maltese dog shown had white hair before my granddaughter dyed its hair pink. The genetics of hair color is very complex. In the most simplistic sense, hair color from black to white depends on a pigment called eumelanin. The amount and type of […]

Filed Under: Biology Tagged With: eumelanin, pheomelanin, pigment in hair

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Welcome to Janice’s Science Extravaganza!

The spoon hanging from the string vibrates when struck and these vibrations are transmitted through the string and the sound is amplified by the plastic cups. ABOUT ME: Hi, I am Janice VanCleave, author of 50 best-selling science experiment books for children ages 4 through high school. I taught science for 27 years. MORE.....

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