Learning Biology Using Eight-legged Freaks

I returned to college after I was laid-off from my lab job in 1995, when Matt was only 9 years old. I decided I would work towards my Bachelor Degree in Biology at Radford University. During my second year I decided I wanted to do research. I had always loved science – especially biology – and had always wanted to do scientific research. I got my chance to learn the trade as a student under the guiding wings of Dr. Fred – a research biologist. His area of research was spiders – yep, spiders.

I chose to research how the male of a desert funnel-web spider (Agelenopsis aperta) knocked out the female prior to mating. My hypothesis was a pheromone; a chemical messenger that traveled through the air. Research takes hours upon hours of observation, and year after year of testing. I was also raising 4 children, and there were several times where my research time overlapped my family time. Consequently, in order to do both I would take the kids with me on occasion, exposing them to a lab filled with spiders.

Sounds pretty scary, huh? It really wasn’t so bad, after all each spider had its own little clear box – and a cover of course. There were approximately 100 spiders in the lab, but they were contained and the kids really wanted to see them, all except Matt. The first time I took them with me Matt stayed in the hall, peering in on occasion to make sure we were alright. Jacob and Christopher spent most of their time trying to figure out the small sign posted on the wall which read, “Time flies like and arrow, fruit flies like a banana”. Sarah was fascinated by the spiders themselves. I gave them a quick tour and showed them the video set-up for taping the spider’s activities. Fred came by and I introduced him to the family. He saw Matt in the hallway and stopped to speak to him. Matt was nervous and didn’t say a word.

Each time we went by the lab the kids got bolder. They took a closer look at the spiders and took another puzzling look at the sign. Matt came inside the door and looked around. If Fred was nearby he would stop to say hello and Matt, having recognized him from previous visits, began to greet Fred with a “hello” of his own. Matt became more comfortable with being in the lab and even got near enough to the containers of spiders to look inside. Most of our trips to Radford University included time to play on the campus. So although the reason for the trip to RU had something to do with the spider lab, it was just a small portion of the time we spent on the campus. Matt started to love these trips. He loved running with the other kids across the lawn and exploring the hallways of each floor of the science buildings. He especially loved seeing Fred, so much so, that when I announced we were going to the campus, Matt would reply, “To see Freddy!”

I finally graduated from RU and finished my research a few years later. Matt was now in the 7th grade and needed to do a science project for the science fair. We talked about several things he could do and he decided to do one about global warming (yes, it was occurring back then). He loved science - that is except for biology. He never cared much for learning about the living organisms of our world and instead focused on the disastrous events of mother nature; earthquakes, tornadoes, landslides, icebergs. He chose to study how melting icebergs affect sea level. We worked on it together. I was the guide to how to set it up and he was the tester and writer. He did very well on this project. This was important because years later he was required to do another science fair project for 10th grade – for biology. He knew what he had to do and although he absolutely hated homework and hated biology, he was not afraid of the actual assignment. We talked about this next project at some length. Nothing it seemed was of interest to him. Each idea I had was shot down and Matt had no idea what he wanted to do.

I then had an inspirational idea – spiders! We had some very beautiful garden spiders making webs in our yuccas. Garden spiders are the bold black and yellow spiders that form a zigzag pattern at the center of their web. I took Matt outside to see the spiders. I caught a grasshopper and tossed it on the web. Immediately the garden spider sprang into action, catching the insect and quickly wrapping her prize for a later meal. I was waiting for Matt’s reaction. A sound of disgust would mean “no way!” a continued gaze would signal fascination. Matt did neither. Instead, Matt laughed.

Matt knew I hated grasshoppers. They had been destroying my flowers and vegetable garden and wanted to get rid of them. Unfortunately, I couldn’t use insecticides for fear of harming one of our numerous pets. Matt also had seen the cult classic Eight-legged Freaks with me several times. The movie was far from scary and actually pretty funny, pitting people against spiders. Matt loved it.

I caught another grasshopper and handed it to Matt who quickly threw it on the web. Again he laughed at the lightning speed of the spider. Matt then caught a grasshopper on his own – the very first time he had actually touched a bug - and threw it on the next web. Again, the spider raced toward her prey, caught it and wrapped it, and again Matt laughed. His laughter convinced me we were on the right path.

Next we had to decide what to actually research. Matt decided to time the spiders to see how fast they could catch and spin. His hypothesis was that larger spiders could go faster than smaller spiders. Each afternoon we would head out to the yuccas. Matt took several photographs. He held a ruler up to each contestant and measured their length. We took turns in either catching the grasshoppers or timing the spider’s race to catch and spin on a stop watch. After collecting the data, I sat down with him to help him organize the material. I had to be so careful to not write this myself – it’s a very difficult thing, letting your child do all the work. Matt hated the writing part, his grammar was faulty, his spelling was weak, and his attention span was very short. But I sat with him each day and encouraged him to write one short paragraph at a time. Even one paragraph required several breaks and this meant the writing of the paper and the making the display board would take a lot of time. Matt just could not focus on it for more than 20 minutes at a stretch.

The weeks went by and finally his project was complete. The title was “Spider Race” and he got an “A” and even went on to the county competition. It was a great experience for him. I was most impressed during the judging of his display. Matt was asked a battery of questions by each of the judges and he was able to give very detailed replies. His teachers, his aid, and of course his family were all very proud of him. I still have the research paper and photographs he took.

Matt never would have done this sort of thing had he not been exposed to the spider lab at RU. His fear of bugs and spiders grew smaller over the years and the subject of biology no longer annoyed him. When he was young I had to force him outside but after his experiment in the garden with the beautiful black and yellow spiders, I never had to force him out the door again.

Matt has lost many of his memories over the years as he sheds various autistic traits but he still remembers the spider lab at Radford University and Fred. It must have had a great impact on him to have retained that particular memory. I guess you just never know what event will be a landmark event in a child’s life.

No one would have guessed one of the landmark events in Matt’s life to be one involving eight-legged freaks – spiders.