COLLEGE STATION, Texas, May 7 (UPI) -- A Texas A&M University researcher says he has shipped nearly 17,000 corn earworms to U.S. students in 12 states so they can learn about the wonders of science.
Craig Wilson, a senior research associate at the university's Center for Science and Mathematics Education, with help from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, shipped the corn earworms to kindergarten through 12 grade students so they could observe various aspects of the earworm as it transforms from its larvae stage into a moth.
"The whole idea of this is to get kids interested in the life sciences and enthuse them about the many fields of science," Wilson said. "The kids talk about their projects and get very excited about what they've learned. One of our goals is to show them that scientists are really not nerdy guys who wear pocket protectors while pouring chemicals into test tubes. Hopefully, many of these kids will be inspired enough to pursue a career as a scientist."
This is the fifth year Wilson has conducted the bugs-to-schools program and he says the response "has been overwhelmingly positive."
Wilson will personally conduct a bug program May 15 for more than 1,500 fifth-graders in south Texas. In June, he'll travel to California and Arizona to present school programs on soil salinity and watershed issues.
