What percentage of children ever get to see a tadpole grow into a frog? Reading about tadpoles amazing metamorphosis into adult frogs is less amazing than observing the living animals and noticing a daily change in size or form.
The seasonal nature of this transformation means that young children may not remember the last time they saw it because it happened one third of their lifetime ago, so teachers may want to repeat this observation activity every year. There are concerns among scientists that even common species of frogs and other amphibians are facing extinction because infectious diseases are damaging their ability to grow and reproduce. To prevent any accidental spread of disease causing organisms, officers from the Society for the Study of Amphibians and Reptiles (SSAR) and Amphibian Ark wrote a letter to the editors in the 2009 April/May Science and Children (also posted at www.ssarherps.org) describing the strict but feasible hygiene conditions and procedures that must be followed by anyone keeping and then releasing amphibians into nature. They said that observing live amphibians “is a great approach for fostering “’bioliteracy.’” IF YOU KEEP LIVE TADPOLES AND OTHER AMPHIBIANS IN YOUR SCHOOL PLEASE READ THE EXPANDED LETTER, “Considerations and Recommendations for Raising Live Amphibians in Classrooms, SSAR’s response to a recent article in Science and Children.”
I won’t quote from the letter because I believe it’s important to get the accurate information in the entire letter but will say that bleach is used in the disinfection procedure.
Now that you know where to get information on how to prevent the spread of disease in amphibians by classroom activities, here is a photo of the baby Wood frog, newly released back to the pond where it hatched. I wish I could have taken each of my students (a few at a time!) with me to see the frog in its natural environment.
Please read the letter and follow these best practices so that generations of frogs will be alive to inspire wonder in generations of children, both animals that are growing and changing.
Perhaps we will be inspired to create school yard habitats so children can observe animals in nature every day.
Peggy