Grasshopper Food

intended for grade 2 to 5

Introduction

1. What do grasshoppers eat?
2. I think grasshoppers probably eat grass, because that is what they are called.
3. They may eat weeds (or vegetables), because there are more grasshoppers in the weeds than in the grass.
4. If the hypothesis is true, the grasshopper will eat grass rather than weeds.

For an actual classroom experiment, you would engage the students in guessing what grasshoppers might eat. You need at least two choices.

Materials and Methods

• Materials:
  • 1 grasshopper
  • 1 jar with lid
  • several leaves of grass
  • several leaves of a weed
• Methods:
  • punch holes in jar lid so grasshopper can breathe
  • place leaves in jar
  • place grasshopper in jar
  • close lid
  • watch to see what grasshopper eats
• experimental design:
  • experimental group where conditions are met:
    grasshopper has grass as one choice
  • control group where conditions are not met:
    grasshopper has another choice (weed leaves)

Again, in an actual classroom setting, you want the students to come up with suggestions for how to run the experiment. You may need to guide them more in the procedure than you did for the hypothesis.

Data

• Record what actually happened,
  and not what you think should have happened.
• description, drawings, numbers and graphs, ...

Conclusions

• based on data presented:
  • "The hypothesis has been proven to be true."
    or
  • "The hypothesis has been proven to be false."
• [optional] how does this change our concept of how the Universe works?

Works Cited

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© 2004 TwoOldGuys™