Developing STEM skills with water games in early childhood

Children curiously and instinctively ask questions about how, what and why about their environment. The aim of the study is to examine the effect of early childhood water games on the development of STEM skills. The study group consisted of 21 students of fifth grade of a primary school in İstanbul, Maltepe. In the research, water games related to swimming and stinging were played from salvation from desert island, and answers from the children such as let us do submarine, rainbow sherbet and let us carry the water. After the evaluation of the research data, the effect of the water games on the development of STEM skills was determined. In a study related to swimming and stinging in early childhood, children expressed that they found the swimming and stinging experience enjoyable. This paper recommends other researchers to work on different topics and in different age groups within the scope of the contribution of the games to the development of STEM skills. Keywords: STEM, games, early childhood, Skills, water.

Interactions between sympatric invasive European fire ants (Myrmica rubra) and blacklegged ticks (Ixodes scapularis)

The blacklegged tick (Ixodes scapularis) and the invasive European fire ant (Myrmica rubra) are both expanding throughout their sympatric range in coastal New England. Ixodes scapularis is the primary vector of the bacterium Borrelia burgdorferi, which is the causative agent of Lyme disease, and Mount Desert Island, Maine, home to Acadia National Park, currently is affected by a high Lyme disease burden. Ticks have many natural predators, including ants, although no previous studies have investigated interactions between these two species. To test the hypothesis that the presence of M. rubra alters I. scapularis abundance, we collected ticks by drag-sampling at eight ant-infested sites and eight uninfested control sites in Acadia National Park. We found that nymph density was significantly higher at ant-infested sites, while larval density was significantly higher at control sites. In addition, we conducted a laboratory bioassay to measure M. rubra aggression against I. scapularis larvae, nymphs, and adults and Dermacentor variabilis adults, and found that ant aggression was significantly higher against D. variabilis adults than I. scapularis adults. Our findings support the hypothesis that M. rubra has divergent effects across I. scapularis life stages, and we discuss possible ecological mechanisms, including optimal microclimate and predation, that could promote density of nymphs while inhibiting density of larvae.