Science of Seeking Snacks

The smell of fresh-baked cookies. The look of bright red strawberries. What lures YOU to seek a snack? Join this real-life investigation of how praying mantis hunting behavior gives us insights into our own eating habits.

Compare insect and human senses with a series of hands-on experiments, and see amazing scanning-microscope images of insects’ sensory organs—taken in our own entomology lab. Examine insect specimens used at the Ritzmann Lab with Case Western Reserve University—and hear their brain activity! This program will take you beyond the basic five senses with the help of six-legged scientists. This program is supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation.

Teacher Guide

Ohio’s Learning Standards

Grade 3

Life Science – Behavior, Growth, and Changes

• Plants and animals have life cycles that are part of their adaptations for survival in their natural environments.

Grade 4

Life Science – Earth’s Living History

• Changes in an organism’s environment are sometimes beneficial to its survival and sometimes harmful.

Grade 5

Life Science – Interconnections Within Ecosystems

• Organisms perform a variety of roles in an ecosystem.
• All of the processes that take place within organisms require energy.

Grade 6

Life Science – Cellular to Multicellular

• Living systems at all levels of organization demonstrate the complementary nature of structure and function.

Grade 7

Life Science – Cycles of Matter and Flow of Energy

• In any particular biome, the number, growth, and survival of organisms and populations depend on biotic and abiotic factors.