Using NewsHour Extra Feature Stories

Overview: NewsHour Extra features stories can help students identify and interpret key issues in current events. This activity anticipates one class period, but the follow-up essay might be assigned as homework, or in another period.

Warm Up: Use initiating questions to introduce the topic and find out how much your students know.

Main Activity: Have students read NewsHour Extra's feature story and answer the questions on the reading comprehension handout.

Discussion: Use discussion questions to encourage students to think about how the issues outlined in the story affect their lives and express and debate different opinions.

Follow-up: Students can write an 500-word editorial on the topic expressing their views and send it to NewsHour Extra [extra@newshour.org] for possible publication.

Evaluation: Students are graded on their answers to reading comprehension questions and/or their editorial.

Story: Brood X is Back: 17-Year Cicadas Reemerge, 5/24/04
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/jan-june04/cicadas_5-24.html

Initiating Questions:

1. What are cicadas?

2. Do you live in a state or city with Brood X cicadas? If so, what has the experience been like so far?

Reading Comprehension Questions: (click here for printout)

1. What is this group of cicadas, that is emerging in 15 states, called? When were they last seen?

Known scientifically as Magicicade septendecim, the cicadas were last seen in 1987. They make up Brood X, or group ten under a federal naming system. Although there are broods that come out every year, this one is the largest in nearly two decades.

2. Describe the basic life cycle of the cicada.

This insect phenomenon will be as brief as it will be spectacular. Cicadas spend 99 percent of their lives underground. After spring rains, when earth that has remained undisturbed has softened up and reached 64 degrees Fahrenheit, the creatures begin crawling out of self-created tunnels.

Starting out as nymphs, they crawl to nearby posts, trees or just about any vertical surface where they can shed their tan outer shells. They emerge as adults with black bodies, translucent orange wings and red eyes. They wait in the warm sun before they begin to mate. About 20 days later they die.

3. Are cicadas harmful? If so, in what ways?

Although they may seem like an invading army, cicadas are generally harmless. At worst they crash picnics and outdoor parties, as well as clog pool filters. Dogs and cats that overindulge may get sick to their stomachs. According to the University of Michigan cicada Web site, they'll only bite you if they "mistake you for a tree branch and try to feed" - a result of holding one in your hand too long.

4. Why is the cicada mating call so significant? Describe it.

It is the mating of the cicada that draws so much attention. The males, using sound organs with ribbed membranes known as tymbals, make a noise that when multiplied by the thousands has been likened to an approaching train, a lawn mover, a whirling spaceship, a jet engine. It is their love song.

5. Can you eat cicadas? According to one entomology student, what are they similar to?

Others see the millions of insects as a healthy high-protein, low-carbohydrate edible treat. Jenna Jadin, an entomology student at the University of Maryland, was inspired to create a culinary how-to-guide, "Cicada-Licious: Cooking and Enjoying Periodical Cicada."

She notes that the cicada is not so different from crawfish, lobster or shrimp, with which they share a biological phylum. "Popping a big juicy beetle, cricket, or cicada into your mouth is only a step away," Jadin writes.

 

Discussion Activity (more research might be needed):

1. Would you ever eat a cicada? Why or why not? Research cultures that commonly eat insects. When are they eaten - daily or for special occasions? Are there any foods that you eat that may seem strange to other cultures?

2. If you live in an area that is experiencing the emerging cicadas, go out and observe the creatures. What do you notice about them? What stage of their life cycle is occurring? Describe what they sound like.

3. How old will you be when Brood X returns? What do you think your life will be like then? Describe your life as you envision it.

Write a 300-500 word essay on any of these topics providing clear examples. Send your completed editorial to NewsHour Extra [extra@newshour.org]. Exceptional essays might be published on our Web site.