C. elegans worms are awesome!

C. elegans

This week students learned about Caenorhabditis elegans. C. elegans is the scientific name for a small, non-parasitic roundworm that is being used by scientists worldwide as a model organism to discover new things about development and disease. Since it is one of the simplest organisms with a nervous system, it makes a great model for researchers to study neural development in animals.

Students learned about the anatomy and development of C. elegans and then had an opportunity to view these organisms under the light microscope. They also worked like real scientists to perform a controlled experiment to test C. elegans preference for an odorant (smell) and then analyzed their results. Ask your student how we were able to determine the worms’ odorant preference!


C. elegans

Esta semana los estudiantes aprendieron sobre Caenorhabditis elegans. C. elegans es el nombre científico para una gusano microscópico no parasitico, que es ampliamente utilizada por científicos en todo el mundo como uno modelo animal para estudiar el desarrollo y distintas enfermedades. Debido a que es uno de los organismos más simples que posee sistema nervioso, es un excelente modelo para estudiar el desarrollo este en animales.

Los estudiantes aprendieron sobre la anatomía y el desarrollo de C. elegans y tuvieron la oportunidad de observar a estos organismos bajo el microscopio. También trabajaron como científicos y llevaron a cabo un experimento controlado, para determinar la preferencia de estos organismos por un odorante (olor), y luego analizaron sus resultados. Pregúntele a su hijo o hija cómo lograron determinar la preferencia de los gusanos por un olor.

 

Does your child enjoy our visits? Please consider supporting our program so we can reach more students!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Categories
Open 7 days INFO
Our Young Pre classroom is for ages. This age group is working
BELL SCHEDULE