1. Cricket Behavior Experiment

2. Variables? Control? Any way to improve the design?

3. 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

4. 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

5. 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?

6. What could be this problem statement?

7. What do you think they are testing?

8. 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.

9. Make measureable observations
EXAMPLE: What constitutes “courtship?”
Touching
Moving toward
Chirping
Mounting
Biting
Cricket Mating Video

10. You’ll need numbers for data:
Count how many crickets are in an area per minute.
Count how many crickets touched another cricket.

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

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

13. Is there a control area?

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

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

16. What do you think of putting ice and warm water in bags UNDER the tank
What do you think of putting ice and warm water in bags UNDER the tank? (Why better than in the tank?)

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

18. What are they designing as their variable?

19. Why is it good to run at least 3 trials?

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