Tadpoles encourage students to make a splash into science

California State University, Stanislaus Biology students led by Biology Professor Mark Grobner are hosting 220 students from Crowell and Walnut Elementary Schools in Turlock on May 18, 19, and 21 as the culmination of a semester-long Life Cycles Project. The Life Cycles Project helps second grade students learn about the life cycle by following the development of young tadpoles as they mature into frogs.  
 
CSU Stanislaus biology students in Dr. Mark Grobner’s Vertebrate Embryology course set up aquariums with tadpoles in 17 Turlock Elementary School classrooms so that the younger students could watch the transformation from tadpole to frog. The project will culminate in releasing the adult frogs into Willow Lake on the CSU Stanislaus campus.
 
Crowell students will visit the CSU Stanislaus campus on Monday, May 18 from 10:30 to 11:30 a.m. and Walnut students will come to the campus on Tuesday and Thursday, May 19 & 21, from 9:45 to 10:45 a.m. The young students will also tour the Naraghi Hall of Science after they release their frogs.
 
This fun and educational event will take place at Willow Lake next to the CSU Stanislaus Naraghi Hall of Science, which is off Monte Vista Avenue. Members of the media are welcome to attend. For more information, contact the Office of Service Learning at (209) 667-3311.