UC hopes frogs inspire students to leap into STEM
Biologist is using her research to help Cincinnati public school teachers explain evolution
Lucinda Lawson wants to get children excited about science, so she’s combining two things most kids love: trading cards and frogs.
The University of Cincinnati biologist is working with teachers at two Cincinnati public schools to help them explain evolution using frogs that Lawson studies in Africa.
Lawson works with Hyperolius frogs, a genus of more than 150 colorful species, including one she and her research partners discovered in 2019 that was new to science.
As part of a science grant funded through the National Science Foundation, Lawson created an outreach program combining science and art that she runs with the Clifton Area Neighborhood School and as part of the Hughes STEM High School Biology day at UC.
The program is designed to boost participation in science, technology, engineering and math or STEM.
“It’s fun. Children are naturally curious, and introducing science early in a fun and exploratory way is a great fit for kids’ brains,” Lawson said.
UC biologist Lucinda Lawson created children's trading cards based on the colorful frogs she studies in East Africa. Photo/Michael Miller
To create activities for the children, she used Adobe Illustrator to make trading cards featuring pictures of the vibrantly patterned frogs along with details about where they are found and what sounds they make.
The cards depict 20 species or subspecies, each with unique colors, patterns and vocal calls. Students can compare their cards to others and where each frog is found on a map.
Lawson studied biology, chemistry, psychology and art in college. She said she loves to combine these passions in her research.
When you take away the wonder, science can feel hard. But if you can keep that sense of curiosity and wonder in younger kids, it will boost STEM participation rates.
Lucinda Lawson, UC biologist
Lawson also made 3D-printed plastic frogs that students paint to match their cards to discuss the variation.
A 2023 NSF report found that STEM fields are becoming more diverse. Hispanic workers represented 15% of the STEM workforce; Asian and Black workers were 10% respectively and American Indians and Alaskan Natives were less than 1%.
Children at the Clifton Area Neighborhood School paint plastic models of their frogs to match the colors and patterns of a particular Hyperolius species. Photo/Lucinda Lawson
Why does that matter? STEM workers have higher median earnings and lower rates of unemployment compared with non-STEM workers. And these fields are in growing demand, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Today, nearly 1 in 4 workers is employed in a STEM occupation.
STEM can be an avenue of success for young people, particularly first-generation college students, Lawson said.
“When you take away the wonder, science can feel hard. But if you can keep that sense of curiosity and wonder in younger kids, it will boost STEM participation rates,” she said.
While looking at pictures and trading cards is fun, Lawson said having a three-dimensional representation is important for children to connect with each frog's similarities or differences.
Lawson said ideally students would study live African frogs in their classrooms, but that's not practical. Some of the Hyperolius species are endangered.
Lawson worked with former UC postdoctoral researcher Duncan Irschick, now a biology professor at the University of Massachusetts, on a “living” three-dimensional frog that allows students to see some of the African frogs up close.
See a living model of a Hyperolius frog
Check out the 3D living model of a Riggenbach's reed frog created by University of Massachusetts Professor Duncan Irschick.
Students painted 3D-printed frogs to match the colors and patterns of the real animals. Photo/Lucinda Lawson
Irschick used frogs from the California Academy of Sciences to create digital photo models that students can manipulate in three dimensions to see just how beautiful and interesting they are. The digital model of the Riggenbach’s reed frog sits as if on a lilypad with its little throat expanding and contracting with each breath like a real frog. It has a bold pattern of yellow squiggles on a dark green background, but its most striking feature is its bright red toes.
And when students turn the frog this way or that, the skin surface reflects the light in a realistic way.
“Kids can view and download these models for free and learn about amphibian morphology and color from an accurate specimen,” Irschick said. “Teachers can also use them to demonstrate the unique adaptations of amphibians.”
“What’s cool is the model preserves the original colors of the frog in the digital viewer,” Lawson said.
“A laser or CT scan doesn’t preserve the colors, but this system captures the frog’s amazing colors,” she said “You don’t have to collect your own frogs in Africa.”
UC College of Arts and Sciences biologist Lucinda Lawson made frog trading cards to teach students about evolutionary principles.
With help from UC Associate Professor Dieter Vanderelst, who studies bats, they used 3D printers to make little plastic frogs that the students can paint to match the vivid colors and bold patterns of the Hyperolius frogs.
The frogs are a good model to teach evolution because of their incredible diversity of colors: reds, greens and yellows all in bold contrasting patterns. “Why do different populations have different colors? What does it mean to the frogs?”
Amphibians such as poison dart frogs are active during the day, using their conspicuous bright colors to advertise their toxicity to predators. They can make birds, snakes and other animals sick from the toxins excreted on their skin.
But the Hyperolius frogs are not toxic and fall prey to all kinds of predators. As a result, they do not venture out during the day, Lawson said. Instead, we believe that they use their vivid colors to attract mates at night.
“They can see color at the absolute visual minimum. In pitch darkness, we would have no hope of seeing color. Even cats could not see them, despite the bright colors of these frogs,” she said.
“But the frogs that come out at night can. They use the cover of deepest, darkest night to show off their colors to each other when predators can’t see them,” she said. “And then they go hide during the day.”
Featured image at top: University of Cincinnati biologist Lucinda Lawson and her research partners discovered a species of reed frog, Hyperolius ukaguruensis, that was new to science. Photo/Christoph Liedtke
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