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Ellis Abel Learns.

In my own words · Johnson County, IL

Why I love bugs

A bee crawling over the yellow centre of a wildflower while pollinating it on Kennedy Space Center property. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Insects" page — read by families in Johnson County, IL.
A bee crawling over the yellow centre of a wildflower while pollinating it on Kennedy Space Center property. NASA · Public domain
  • There are more of them than anything else.
  • Six legs, and it works incredibly well.
  • Some of them change into something completely different.

You can love bugs in Johnson County.

What it really is

Insects are the most numerous and varied animals on earth.

Three things to try today

  1. Find three different bugs in one hour.
  2. Count the legs on each.
  3. Find one that is not an insect.

For the grown-up reading this

This page is written to the child, not about them. If a kid in Johnson County, IL loves bugs, here is the grown-up version of what they already feel. Johnson County is one of 102 counties in Illinois.

The leg count is a real key. Six is an insect; eight is not.

If the kid who loves this is a girl

Read what one popular teacher said to one little girl who took out the classroom trash without being asked — and what that girl did with the rest of her life.

Girls are great at math — Johnson County, IL →

Love something else too

A scientist looks through a microscope at human breast cancer cells in a cell bioassay laboratory, with an automated liquid handling robot behind her. Real USGS photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Medicine" page — read by families in Johnson County, IL.Why I love doctorsAstronaut Kate Rubins holds a handheld DNA sequencer while running a gene sequencing experiment aboard the space station. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Genetics" page — read by families in Johnson County, IL.Why I love DNAAstronaut Ricky Arnold processes swab samples of microbes collected from space station surfaces at a work station. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Germs" page — read by families in Johnson County, IL.Why I love germsA research laboratory seen from outside through a glass window, with a scientist inside preparing samples for analysis. Real USGS photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Science" page — read by families in Johnson County, IL.Why I love scienceA wide-angle view of the flight control room of NASA's Mission Control Center, filled with rows of consoles and display screens. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Technology" page — read by families in Johnson County, IL.Why I love technologyLong rows of black cabinets housing the Discover supercomputer at the NASA Center for Climate Simulation. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Computers" page — read by families in Johnson County, IL.Why I love computersTwo small AstroPi Raspberry Pi computers with camera modules floating in the Columbus laboratory of the space station. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Coding" page — read by families in Johnson County, IL.Why I love codingA close-up of one row of the Discover supercomputer, showing about 2,000 processors stacked in cabinets with cabling. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Data" page — read by families in Johnson County, IL.Why I love data

Near Johnson County

Why I love bugs, everywhere in the US · All things to love · STEM jobs you could do · Summer camps in Johnson County