Do You Hear What I Hear?
Humbolt Jr. High School
St. Paul, MN
Abstract
In this lab we were investigating to see if the noise level in a classroom affected
the movement of the monarch butterfly. We were trying to determine if the butterflies
would move more in louder surroundings than in quieter surroundings. We found that
as the noise level increased, so did the monarchs' activity. The average number
of butterfly flaps in the quiet classroom was about 36 flaps per 5 minutes, while
the average number of flaps in the noise classroom was about 63 flaps per 5 minutes.
There are some uncertainties in this experiment. First, students were not all counting
flaps the same way and secondly, as the noise level increased so did the activity
of the students. This may have caused the butterflies to move. This experiment taught
me that if you want calm butterflies in the classroom, you need to have calm students
around them.
Introduction
In Ms. Aughenbaugh's science class we are doing an experiment on monarch butterflies.
We are trying to see if the noise level affects how many wing flaps a monarch butterfly
makes. I thought that the butterflies would make more wing flaps when the noise
level was louder because they could get scared or excited.
Materials
- two little cages
- one big cage
- 19 butterflies
- timer
Method
All the students had a number from 1-19 that we had to remember. We made a data
table numbered 1-19. We used three cages and about 5-6 butterflies in each cage.
We had to watch the same butterfly each time we tested them. Ms. Aughenbaugh timed
us for about 5 minutes. When she said start we had to be silent and then we counted
how many flaps the butterflies made for 5 minutes. Then we went to our seats and
collected data from that. Then we went back and changed the noise level to low and
counted the flaps for another 5 minutes. We took a 10 minute break to collect that
data. Next, we went back to our spots and changed the noise level to a medium whisper
and counted how many flaps the butterflies made and took another 10 minute break
to collect that data. Finally, we changed the noise level to a high whisper and
counted those flaps and added the data to our data table. After collecting all of
the data, we added it up depending on the noise level and divided by 19 to get the
average. Then we added the average to our data table.
Conclusion
We found that as the noise level increased, the monarchs had more activity. Our
conclusion may have some errors because the students didn't count the exact number
of flaps, they just estimated. The average flaps of the monarchs with no noise level
was 53.9, with low, 36.7, with medium, 43.1, and with high noise level was 63.4.
Two things I learned from this experiment were that monarchs have more activity
when the noise level is higher and that noise level can affect the activity of a
monarch.
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