Cricket Behavior Experiment

Variables? Control? Any way to improve the design?

You have one of these variables:• Agnostic behavior (aggressive)• Sexual (mating,male/female)• Phototaxis (light/dark)• Stimulus kinesis (food, hot/cold, terrain

surfaces, etc.)• Courtship (male and female interaction)• Territorial (protecting their space)• Cricket Fighting Video• Another fighting video

Research the Variable

• Go the Sheldon Bioconnection, Chapt. 1, Cricket Links

• Google that behavior• Google cricket behavior• Google designing an experiment• Video of Cricket Behavior

How do you go from observations to writing a

problem statement?• Your problem statement must be

measureable and start out, “What is the effect of…?”

• EXAMPLE: What do male crickets do when a female comes near it?BETTER: What is the effect of movement of introducing male crickets in a tank of only female crickets?

What could be this problem statement?

What do you think they are testing?

Problem Statement to Hypothesis

• If the (dependent variable) is related to the (independent variable),the prediction.

• EXAMPLE: If the movement of female crickets is related to the introduction of male crickets, then more female crickets will move toward the male when they enter the tank.

Make measureable observations

• EXAMPLE: What constitutes “courtship?”

• Touching• Moving toward• Chirping• Mounting• Biting • Cricket Mating Video

You’ll need numbers for data:

• Count how many crickets are in an area per minute.

• Count how many crickets touched another cricket.

You will test one variable at a time: What is this one?

Any Control? (reference area, maybe clear/neutral area)

Is there a control area?

What do you think of this design? Any way to improve it?

How many variables here? What is the independent variable? Dependent?

What do you think of putting ice and warm water in bags UNDER the tank?

(Why better than in the tank?)

What’s good about this design?What is it missing?

What are they designing as their variable?

Why is it good to run at least 3 trials?

Why are charts/graphs good to show your data results?