Quick Virtual Lab: (1 class period needed): can be used by middle school or high school students as a way to quickly gather data on just one Manduca grown in each of the two different temperature settings, and offer a possible explanation for the data.

Full Virtual Lab: (2 class periods needed): is intended to be used by high school students as an alternative to growing and measuring live Manduca in the classroom. Students will measure the mass and length of several organisms from both the warm and cool environment, generate graphs of the data, complete a statistical analysis of the data to determine significance of their results, and offer an explanation for their observations.

Do it Yourself Lab: (15 min. per day for up to 35 days, and 2 full class periods needed): is intended to be used by high school students as a long-term guided inquiry experiment lasting up to 35 days. Students can explore the impact of temperature on size and growth rate by raising their own Manduca from egg to emerging moth. Students gather data on mass and length of their Manduca in both warm and cool environment, generate graphs, complete a statistical analysis of the data, and offer explanations for their observations.

Here is a link to the teacher’s resource packet, containing full instructions for each experiment, student handouts, a sample lesson plan, and background information to help get you started.