Spiders: An Organism for Teaching Biology

Spider Study
Student Designed Experiment

Introduction:
You have set up a habitat for your spider and made some initial observations. The observations lead to questions about your spider. You will design an experiment to answer your questions. In the process you will learn more about your spider. This is what a scientist does.

 

Guidelines for developing your experiment

1. Work with your lab partner. On a separate piece of paper write down your name and your partner's name.
2. Think of a new question or choose one from the list of class questions. Select a question or a topic you would like to learn more about. You will be designing an experiment to answer your question. Discuss with your partner how you might go about answering the question. Write down the question.
3. Write a hypothesis based on your question and previous observations.
4. Develop and write a procedure to test your hypothesis. You will be given four 30-minute sessions to work on your experiment in class. Describe what you plan to do each of those times. Will you need extra time outside of class (lunch time or after school)?
5. List the materials you will need and where you will get them.
6. What data will you collect?
7. Turn in your plan to the teacher. Make sure you have completed items #1-6.

 

The experiment
Follow your procedure and collect data. Record your raw data (as you collect it) on a separate piece of paper.

Data
How will you present your data? You need to select at least two different ways to present it. Select the ways that will best present your data from the following list:

• chart
• table
• graph
• drawing

Each one should be large enough to fill a separate 8.5" x 11" piece of paper.

Results and Conclusions
Write 2-3 paragraphs, each containing 5-7 sentences discussing your experiment. Discuss what the data are telling you. Describe any patterns your data suggest. Explain what you did and why. Talk about what went well and what did not go well. Suggest changes to the procedure that you would do (or recommend) next time. What conclusions can you learn about the information you gathered? What did you learn?

Presentation to the Class
You and your partner will present your experiment and findings to the class for peer review and evaluation. Together with your partner make a poster illustrating your experiment and the data you have collected. Use the poster in your presentation.

What you need to turn in:

• Data Record Sheet (raw data)
• Two Representations of your data
• Written Results and Conclusions
• Your Poster

Write an abstract.
An abstract is a one paragraph summary of the experiment and what was learned. You and your partner will match up with another team. Your task is to write an abstract for their experiment, and they will write one for yours.

 

The University of Arizona
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics
General Biology Program for Secondary Teachers
warder@email.arizona.edu