Biology PhD student Hope Okunbor received an American Society of Plant Biologists Travel Award to attend
STEM Saturday: Backyard Biology
Sun, 05/12/2024 - 10:33am
On Saturday 13 April 2024 representatives of the biology department and the UL Lafayette Biology Society hosted STEM Saturday: Backyard Biology at the Lafayette Science Museum. This event was a great success! The members of the biology team are: Ethan Adams (biology undergraduate student), Britt Bass (biology undergraduate student), Alex Le Lorier (biology undergraduate student), and Heather Olivier Birdsong (the event organizer, Biology Instructor).
We introduced the kids to some native plants and the pollinators that they attract. We stressed that they can make their own backyards great habitat by growing native plants that will draw the bugs and eventually the birds.
photo caption: Prairie blazing star (Liatris pycnostachya)
We taught them to make 'seed bombs' by rolling clay with seeds from Prairie blazing star (Liatris pycnostachya) and provided several differently shaped molds they could use. They took the bombs home and we encouraged them to put them in their own yard or drop them in any empty field. When it rains the rainwater will wash away the clay and make a nice spot for the seeds to germinate.
For those who didn't want to get messy we had coloring sheets of native flowers and their pollinators.
