Ever wonder how ants find food?
Just ask any 3-year old at the Early Childhood Education Center on the east campus.
The children and their teachers began studying insects in early September through outdoor exploration, sketching, counting and comparing.
Discussion of insect habitats, led by Director Ellen Bejster, brought out the children’s interest in ant homes, and that interest developed into an in-depth investigation of ants.
Teacher Marilyn Worsley described the sense of wonder the children and the teachers and student teachers experienced as they learned about ant life.
"I was excited to find interesting facts about ants," Worsley said. "I didn’t know they started out white and soft and then turn hard and black. This other thing is that they rub other insects for food.
"These are things the children and I have discovered together in our research," she said.
Student teacher Jenny Richard was surprised to learn that ants have their own "cows" for milking. She explained that "they (ants) milk aphids for a liquid called honeydew."
Teacher Sallee Beneke said the children will continue to explore the world of ants with plans underway to build several types of ant farms. And since ants communicate with one another through vibrations in their antennae, the children will experiment with vibrations and other forms of non-verbal communication, she said.
The ant farms will be housed in an Insect Museum the children are building, Beneke said. The children are also interested in creating habitats for other living insects, and in preparation, arrangements have been made for the children to interview life science instructor Greg Oseland.
Among the questions the children are planning to pose to the science instructor:
Do insects die if they don’t have holes?
Why do some insects fly or not fly?
Why are some ants red?
What do most insects eat?
Oct. 8, 1998 the Apache