Do It Yourself Manduca Experiment

Want to do your own experiment? Then this is the place to be. We have complete instructions on building and running your own experiment. There are also results at the end of this page from our own DIY experiment. You can use our data to compare with your own experiment results. Complete instuctions and printable resouce packet are listed below.

• Grow Your Own resource page for instructions on how to setup and grow your own Manduca.
• Teacher and student guide containing virtual lab student handout.

DIY steps using the scientific method

Question: How will temperature affect the growth of Manduca over time?

Generate your own hypothesis and predictions about what will happen. 

Collect your data

1. Use your Do it Yourself student handout to guide you through growing your own Manduca from egg, to caterpillar, to pupae, and all the way to an adult moth.
2. You can click on the animation link for either temperature window below to get a sneak peek at what you might see.

Analyze your data

1. Plot graphs of your data (length vs. days and mass vs. days) for both temperatures using this link or your own Excel sheet to determine if there are real differences between the different temperature groups.
2. Use the analysis questions from your full virtual lab student handout along with the information about temperature, Manduca, and animal growth on this website to help you interpret your data.
3. Optional: Compare the data from your Manduca’s to the Manduca that we reared using the same methods that you did. See the Do It Yourself student handout for instructions on how to do this.

* Full featured virtual experiment supported by all browsers except Internet Explorer.