Relevant National Teaching Standards
Grade 5-8: Science in Personal and Social Perspectives (Personal Health--Disease and Treatment)
Grade 9-12: Life Science (Interdependence of Organisms), Life Science (Behavior of Organisms), Science in Personal and Social Perspectives (Personal and Community Health--Disease and Treatment)
Synopsis: As disease-infected mosquitoes expand their range, these bugs rise higher on the "menace to human health" list. What makes mosquitoes so perfect for disease transfer? Is global warming a factor? How is modern technology being harnessed to combat skeeters?
Find
the article: Mosquito Bytes
Discussion
Questions
1. What are mosquito larvae? Where do they live?
2. How and when do mosquitoes transmit diseases during their life cycle?
3. Why do mosquitoes bite some folks more than others?
4. How is global warming expected to intensify disease transmission by mosquitoes?
5. What events and situations halted progress towards the world-wide eradication of malaria? Is malaria eradication feasible now?
Lesson
Plans/Activities
1. Let's experiment! With student input, develop a hypothesis about the effect of temperature on the time it takes mosquito larvae to mature into adult mosquitoes. Purchase mosquito larvae from a biological supply house and grow in distilled water at various temperatures. Be sure to place cheese cloth over each container's opening and secure it with a rubber band. (Don't let the data fly away!) On a daily basis, monitor water temperature and record the number of mature mosquitoes, then release mature mosquitoes outside. Compile your results. Does temperature make a difference on the rate of mosquito development? Based on these results, what effect will global warming have on mosquito populations? Check out the following website for more information about how to set up this experiement. This site, too.
Take the: Quiz
