Join us this summer for The Tick. No, not the comic book character, but the scourge and bane of hikers, landscapers, fisherman, and hunters. What makes the tick tick? How can we prevent the spread of disease?
Total class meetings: 4
Duration of each class: 45 minutes
Prerequisite: None
Suggested grade level: 6th to 8th grade
Suggested credit: 1/3 semester Science or Ecology
Instructor: MacBeth Derham
Instructor Email: macbethderham@gmail.com
Course description: Using data from the most recent scientific research, we shall piece together the life history of the tick, consider the diseases each species carries, map their likely whereabouts, and consider ways to limit the impact of tick-borne disease on our lives.
Course outline:
Class 1: An overview of tick identification, behavior, and life cycles
Class 2: Ticks and the animals they love; how they interact
Class 3: How tick-borne diseases are spread geographically over time; mapwork
Class 4: Evidence of transmission by vector, and how to use the information to stop spread
Course materials: Provided free by the instructor.
Homework: Using data given during the lecture, students will draw the life cycle of Ixodes scapularis after Day 1, speculate vectors after Day 2, consider vector pressures after Day 3, and put all of the information together in a short essay after Day 4.
Answer Key: A rubric for answers is provided in the answer key section of this course, just above Class One.
- Teacher: MacBeth Derham