Mealworm Science

Today in science, we did a few experiments using our mealworms. In tribes, the students were given a question to answer, and then devised their own experiments and gathered their own materials, in an attempt to answer the question. They were encouraged to make their own hypotheses, and to do several trials. We've been working all year in becoming more and more independent, so I figured they were ready to fly (nearly) solo. And they were!

One tribe tried to figure out if mealworms preferred one color over another, one tested a mealworms preference for light or dark, and one wanted to determine if mealworms were more attracted to wet or dry material.

Reports were written up, and results shared with the class. Mostly we learned that although mealworms seemed to prefer the color they started on, we couldn't really tell if it was because they were "lazy" or really liked that color. Mark also mentioned that since they used 5 different mealworms for 5 trials, that perhaps the results were dependent on individual choice. Other results showed a preference for dark, as well as damp.