Butterfly Research

Your name______________________

Your butterfly’s code letter____

PURPOSE OF PROJECT:

Before biologists can design experiments, they must make detailed observations of living things. From these observations, they begin to develop questions to test. Unlike the Acid Rain research, we will not be doing an “experiment” on the butterflies. We will be making detailed observations of their growth, development, and behavior. You must make sure you are making observations (using your 5 senses) on the butterflies, and not making inferences (making assumptions based on past experiences).

Bad Journal Entry (Inference):

**Good Journal Entry (Observation):

DAILY JOURNAL OF OBSERVATIONS:

Each day, you will observe your butterfly as it grows and develops through the stages of its development. You will be making observations of one butterfly, comparing it to others in the class, and recording your observations in a daily journal. At the end of the project, you will use your journal notes to summarize the life of your butterfly.

You should date each daily journal entry. Each entry should include:

(1) descriptions of appearance

(2) behavior

(3) sketches of each stage in the life cycle

(4) measurements

(5) comparisons to other butterflies in the class

Do not record inferences! Only record observations.

TECHNOLOGY:

You will have the chance to use both the QX3 microscope and digital cameras in this research project. Digital cameras will be used to record still images, and the QX3 will be used for both still microscope shots, and time-lapse videos. Hopefully, you will be able to capture the metamorphosis of the caterpillar into an adult in a video!

The images you capture may be placed on the website for this project.

GRADING:

Your daily observations will be collected twice during the research, at the halfway point, and at the end of the observations. These will count as two lab grades (25 points each time). A final summary of your observations will count as two lab grades (50 points), and will be due 11/21 (RED) and 11/22 (BLUE).

Your daily journal will be graded according to the following:

Description of APPEARANCE 5 points	Description of BEHAVIOR 5 points	SKETCHES 5 points	Observations 5 points	Comparisons 5 points
Detailed description each day	Detailed description each day	Sketches and measurementspresent for each stage of life cycle	No inferences made, all entries are observations	Detailed comparisons made between student’s organism and others in the class
Description present and satisfactory	Description present and satisfactory	One or two sketches or measurementsmissing	Some inferences present	Some comparisons present
Description missing some days, or hastily done	Description missing some days, or hastily done	More than two sketches or measurementsmissing	Most entries are inferences	Few comparisons
Many missing descriptions	Many missing descriptions	No sketches or measurements	No observations	Comparisons missing