Grade 5 Science Project - 14/03/07 - Day 29, The Final Day

Today Mikhael came to my apartment again and we worked on sticking on the articles to the construction paper, and the construction paper to the board. My sister, Leila, helped us with the putting the articles on the board. In the end, our conclusion was that the mealworms like to live in dry places and they die in wet conditions. I thought our board looked fantastic. Tomorrow, 15th of March we will bring the board in to school. Me and Mikhael are expecting good grades. On March 21st, our project will be displayed in our gymnasium and children's parents will see it.

Grade 5 Science Project - 13/03/07 - Day 28

Today Mikhael came to my apartment and we did some research on the mealworms. We went on Google and came across this website:

http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/iiin/mealworm.html

The website had some good information on mealworms that we decided to use for our project board.

We also did some observations of the mealworms. They seem to be squiggling quite a lot and are some times trying to escape from the container.

Mikhael brought some construction paper that we decided to use as background for the articles and pictures we prepared. We decided to put the articles on the board to see how it would look.

Then Mikhael went home and we agreed that he would come the next day so we could finish the project and the board.

Grade 5 Science Project - 12/03/07 - Day 27

Today I did some more observations.

Project Notes

The mealworms are still molting and dying and some more of them have turned into pupas but are dead. They seem to be crawling all over the dead mealworms and pupas and for some reason, I think they are eating them because parts of them have disappeared.

Grade 5 Science Project - 10/03/07 - Day 26

Today I did some more observations.

Project Notes

The mealworms are still molting a lot. The ones that turned into pupas are now dead. They are all trying to escape and some times they huddle up in the middle of the container.


They are slowly dying and I don't think many of them will make it to the adult beetle stage.

Grade 5 Science Project - 07/03/07 - Day 23

Today I went to Michael's house and we wrote the procedure for our project in my science book.
Our conclusion was that mealworms like to live in dry, safe, crowded, places with lots of friends, supplied with fruit and vegetables, places with space to do their business, moist places.

We decided that on Tuesday, next week, Michael will come to my house so we could start making the science board.

Grade 5 Science Project - 04/03/07 - Day 20

Today I did some more observations.

Project Notes

The mealworms are not moving so much. They are still molting and some of them have turned into pupas but are not moving. Some of them are dying but but I don't know why because I have supplied them with food and enough air.

Grade 5 Science Project - 27/02/07 - Day 15

Today I did some more observations.

Project Notes

Some of the mealworms have turned into pupas but are not moving. The other one are still molting.

Grade 5 Science Project - 24/02/07 - Day 12

Today I wrote some obsevations and a few facts.

Project notes

The mealworms haven't grown yet but some of them are still molting. I am still waiting for them to grow.

I found out that the mealworm is actually not a worm, but the larvael stage of the adult beetle. The mealworms lifecycle goes like this:

Egg --------- Larvae --------- Pupa --------- Adult beetle

Grade 5 Science Project - 21/02/07 - Day 9

For my presentation intro, I think I should include some background info about mealworms:

• The mealworms can molt(shed their skins) 9 - 20 times in their larvael stage.
• Mealworms love to eat stuff likedecaying leaves, sticks, grasses and occasionally new plant growth. They also like to eat dead insects, feces, and stored grains.
• Many predators such as rodents, lizards, predatory beetles, spiders and birds eat mealworms.

Grade 5 Science Project - 21/02/07 - Day 9

For my presentation intro, I think I should include some background info about mealworms:

• The mealworms can molt(shed their skins) 9 - 20 times in their larvael stage.
• Mealworms love to eat stuff likedecaying leaves, sticks, grasses and occasionally new plant growth. They also like to eat dead insects, feces, and stored grains.
• Many predators such as rodents, lizards, predatory beetles, spiders and birds eat mealworms.

Grade 5 Science Project - 20/02/07 - Day 8

Today I did more observations.

Project Notes

2 meaworms have stepped out of their skins but gone black and died. This made me think that most of the mealworms wouldn't survive once they turn white.

The mealworms in the wet place sometimes twist around a bit and then stop after a while. Some of them are at one place when I look at them and the next time I look at them, they are in a different place( there could be no mealworms on the apple then when I look again 2 mealworms are on the apple).

Grade 5 Science Project - 19/02/07 - Day 7

Today I did some research and observations.

Project Notes

Today I went on the computer and I was looking at websites that showed me a few more things I could do about the mealworms. One that I liked was to take a pan and pour a bit of water on one side of the pan and the leave the other side of the pan dry. Then you pour about 10 or 15 mealworms into the middle of the pan and record how many mealworms are on each side.

When I did this, I put 2 potatoes on one half with a gap just large enough for them to squeeze through. I thought that they would go to the middle, away from the water, but surprisingly, 2 of them went straight in to the water! Then they started lurching about. One of them came out at once when it realised that it was in water. The other one stayed in the water and stopped moving, and I think it is dead. Two of them are trying to escape but are failing while the other 2 remain calm.

Now 2 of them have stopped moving, but the other 2 still remain calm. They too have tried to escape and have not died yet.

Grade 5 Science Project - 17/02/07 - Day 5

Today I did more observations.

Project Notes

I noticed that when the mealworms did their business they would mostly do it on top of the apple I gave them and do it there instead of somewhere else in the container.

The mealworms I put in the wet container are dead. They have been for several days. They are now turning black and dropping off parts of their body.

Grade 5 Science Project - 15/02/07 - Day 3

Today I wrote some more observations about the mealworms.

Project Notes

The mealworms in the wet container are dead. Now there is something white and a lot like cotton growing out of their body.

We found that instead of pouring lots of water in the container, we should just put about ten drops of water to see their reaction.

I noticed that they occasionally would huddle up together under the fruit. I think this is how they stay together. Some of them don't join in the huddle but stay at the sides, trying to escape.

Grade 5 Science Project -14/02/07 - Day 2

Today I looked at the mealworms and noted my observations. I found out that mealworms have to molt 7-20 times bef0re they turn in to an adult beetle.

Project Notes

While the mealworms were sleeping one of them shed his skin(molted) and underneath it was a white skin and he left it's black part of their mouth behind with the skin.

My hypothesis was that the mealworms were going to like the dry place better than the wet places because I think they would have to breath rather than be in water, not being able to breath.

Grade 5 Science Project - 13/02/07 - Day 1

My friend Michael came over to my house after school and we officially started our project. We talked about the project and decided what we were going to do and we decided that we would first take notes, then we would do some research on the Internet, and then we would start discussing the plans for the board.

Project Notes:

When we put the mealworms in the water in the plastic container they started wriggling and twisting and struggling to get out of the water. After a while they stopped moving, but we weren't sure they were dead.

The ones in the dry places soon all gathered up on the apple. This made us think that it was their way of staying together.

I have also noticed that the mealworms react to noise. So if I speak and I'm close to them they will start moving.

Grade 5 Science Project

I've got a big science fair coming up on the 15th of March and I am going to be doing a project on mealworms. Mealworms are actually not worms but a larvael stage of an adult beetle. Soon I will have to design my science board.

I am working with my friend, Michael. He is in my class and we chose to work together because we thought we would get along well in the project. We started the project on 13th of February. My mum bought the the mealworms and we started working and jotting down notes in my notebook. She got the mealworms from our local pet shop store.