| e a great insect to use as a test subject in a biology | | | | Experiment |
| science fair project. They are easy to find and they | | | | The control experiment will provide the ants with a |
| are easy to handle. In this sample project students will | | | | natural light source. Students may want to use a video |
| be manipulating the amount of light that ants are | | | | camera with a digital timer display to monitor the |
| exposed to in order to see if light impacts how fast | | | | ants’ digging progress. |
| ants dig. | | | | The test experiment will involve several test groups. |
| Hypothesis | | | | The first test group will be exposed to no light at all, an |
| In this science fair project the hypothesis is that ants | | | | infrared camera will be used to monitor their digging |
| dig faster when they are in the dark. The dependent | | | | progress. The second test group will be exposed to |
| variable in this hypothesis is the rate at which ants dig | | | | dim light. The final test group will be exposed to bright |
| and the independent variable is the amount of light that | | | | artificial light. |
| the ant is exposed to during their digging session. It is | | | | Data Collection and Analysis |
| important to note that a non-venomous ant species be | | | | The data that will be collected will be measurements |
| used, such as a sugar ant. | | | | of digging per time period. The students will want to |
| Supplies | | | | determine how long of a tunnel is dug in a minute, in an |
| This science fair project will need an ant-farm set-up. | | | | hour or in a day for each lighting situation. To determine |
| Students can purchase an ant farm or they can | | | | the rate of digging the student will create a ratio of |
| develop their own using a glass container filled 75 | | | | millimeters dug per minute. |
| percent of the way with native soil. Students will also | | | | The analysis of this data will be fairly easy to |
| need a test population of ants. Ants can be purchased | | | | complete. The students will just need to determine |
| from a science store or collected out on the | | | | which lighting set-up produced the fastest rate of |
| school’s playground. You can set traps for ants | | | | digging, or the highest number of millimeters per second |
| using cut apples. Just set the apple on the ground and | | | | (on average). To prove the hypothesis could be true |
| wait until ants cover it. Then pick up the apple pieces, | | | | students will need to find a trend where ants dig faster |
| with the ants and place them in your container. | | | | in darker conditions then they do in lighter conditions. |