Name: ______Period: ______Date: ______

Bess Bugs Lab

Are you stronger than an insect?

A comparative look at form, function, and strength

Parts A: Circle the correct answer for the following questions:

1. Bess bugs are _____.Living or Nonliving

2. The water the bess bugs drink is _____.Living or Nonliving

3. Bess bugs eat dead wood which, at one point was _____.Living or Nonliving

4. Bess bugs like to burrow in dirt or soil, which is _____.Living or Nonliving

5. Bess bugs breath in oxygen, which is _____.Living or Nonliving

Part B: Making Observations

1. Please make threequalitative observations about your bess bug:

a.______

b.______

c.______

2.Please make threequantitativeobservations about your bess bug:

a.______

b.______

c.______

3.Make an inference about your bess bug: ______

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4.Please draw a DETAILED and COLORED picture of your bess bug. Make sure to title the picture “My Bess Bug,” and label any parts you can identify.

Data Table #1: Basic Observations

Mass of petri dish
Mass of petri dish + bess bug
Mass of bess bug
Length of bess bug
Width of bess bug
Height of bess bug
Mass of object used for weight

Part C: Forming a Hypothesis

What attributes does the “World’s Strongest Man” have that may contribute to his extraordinary strength? Record your observations below. Use that information to make a prediction about the relative strength of an insect compared to the relative strength of a human. In other words;Are you stronger than an insect?

1. Attributes of the “World’s Strongest Man”: ______

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2. Problem Statement: ______

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3. Hypothesis: ______

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Part D: Data Collection

Data Table #2: Bess Bug Pulling Power

Mass of weights pulled by your bess bug
(# of weights x mass of one weight)
Pulling power of your bess bug
Class average for pulling power

Part E: Analysis & Conclusions

Please answer the following questions in complete sentences!!!!!!!

1. Was your hypothesis supported or rejected and why? ______

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2. How does your bess bug’s pulling power compare with the class average for pulling power?

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3. What were the controls in this experiment? ______

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4. What was the independent variable in this experiment? ______

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5. What was the dependent variable in this experiment? ______

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6. Name at least one error in the experiment that would make it less accurate? How could you have fixed this error to make the experiment better?

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7. Now that you know how strong a beetle is – think of a question that could be answered through a scientific experiment. Ex.: Can two beetles working together pull twice the weight of one beetle?

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8. Make a final concluding statement about everything you learned from performing this experiment (be sure to consider all of the objectives for this activity; To observe the behavior of a common insect, to carry out an experiment to investigate the strength of an insect, to see the relationship between strength and body size, and to explore how humans are similar to and different from other living organisms):

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