Parasite Sleuth

Judy Sakanari, Ph.D., visits fish markets in search of worms and other parasites harmful to marine animals and humans. She takes her “catch” back to the lab and conducts experiments on the live worms inside the fish. Her work with parasites helps scientists understand how these “guests” survive inside another animal without being digested and expelled.

Your students will develop an understanding of:

• systems, order, and organization
• the characteristics of living things
• evidence, models, and the ability to use simple tools to gather data
• environments and personal health
• life cycles, and structure and function in living things

Activities include:

• Classy Parasites—create a parasite classification system.
• What Is a Parasite?—make and dissect an Ascaris worm.
• Pet Parasite Detective—examine a pet for ticks and fleas.
• Parasite Sleuth—solve mysterious diseases by finding the problem parasites.
• Traveling Tapeworm—unravel the stages of a developing tapeworm in a life-size human gut.

Check out the supply list for each activity.