This page shows questions in the Bug Institute public release module at MSDE. 5th Grade MISA
"Bug Institute"
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This is test content.
A group of students observed ladybugs in a school garden and wanted to find out more about insect life cycles. During the research, the students found evidence that as they develop some young insects appear similar to adult insects. Other insects appear different as they go through the stages of development. To do more research about the growth and behavior of insects, the students attended a summer camp, “The Bug Institute,” sponsored by a local university. While at the camp, the students kept journals to record their observations. The first activity at the camp involved researching the life cycles of two different insects and drawing diagrams, similar to the diagrams as follows.
This is test content.
To learn more about how insects interact with their environment the students performed an investigation with each insect, the details of which are shown.
1. Ladybug investigation:
The students examined adult ladybugs that were placed in a terrarium containing cosmos plants. The flowers of the cosmos plants come in one of three colors: pink, purple, or white. A diagram of a flower from a cosmos plant is shown.
In order to determine if ladybugs were attracted to certain colors, the students carried out the following investigation:
- Set up a terrarium with three cosmos plants having different colored flowers.
- pink
- purple
- white
- Observed the ladybugs moving around the flowers.
- Counted the number of ladybugs present on each colored flower every day for five days.
On day five of the investigation, the data showed that the plant with the white flowers had the greatest number of ladybugs on it. The students concluded the ladybugs were most often attracted to the white flowers.
2. Cricket investigation:
To investigate how crickets respond to different stimuli, the students examined how cotton balls soaked in different solutions would affect the crickets.
The students used a terrarium containing 12 crickets.
Each cotton ball was soaked in solution and placed in the terrarium.
The results are shown.
| CRICKET INVESTIGATION RESULTS | |
| Solution | Cricket Motion |
|---|---|
| None | Neither toward nor away |
| Peppermint oil | Away |
| Lemon juice | Away |
| Vanilla oil | Toward |
| Cinnamon oil | Away |
| Pine-scented cleaner | Toward |
This is a question with 2 parts, including a question with drop-down menus from which you must select an option to fill in the blank.
This is a matching question that allows you to match elements from one list with those on another list.
The students found evidence that the life cycles of the insects did not have the same stages.
Select the life-cycle stages that both insects have in common and the stages they do not have in common.
| Stage | Not Present in Both Insects | Present in Both Insects |
|---|---|---|
| Adult | ||
| Egg | ||
| Larva | ||
| Nymph | ||
| Pupa |
This is a multiple choice question that allows you to select several options.
What would most likely be the results if ladybugs stopped producing eggs?
Select all that apply.
This is a multiple choice question that allows you to select only one option.
The purpose of the students’ cricket investigation was to observe the crickets’ response to a stimulus.
The students most likely used the cotton balls soaked in solutions as evidence that the crickets are attracted by certain
This is a multiple choice question that allows you to select only one option.
The observation that most likely helped the students draw the conclusion about ladybugs is that the ladybugs
This is a test question that allows you to enter extended text in your response.
At the completion of the ladybug investigation, the students performed further research and discovered that ladybugs eat aphids, which are white.
Describe how this information would most likely help the students understand the results of the ladybug investigation. In your description, be sure to include
- evidence from the investigation
- the sensory organs the ladybug would use