Science Project Ideas With Mealworms

What Colors Do Mealworms Like?

Cut four pieces of paper using different colors, such as yellow, red, green and blue. Tape one of each to the bottom of a lidless plastic container alongside the walls. Place mealworms in the middle of the container. Observe which color the mealworms move toward. Remove them after 30 seconds, and then record the results. Repeat the experiment 20 times, to see whether mealworms consistently gravitate toward a particular color.

Obtain 100 mealworms, and put 20 inside each of five identical boxes. Place four different light bulbs one foot above each box, using incandescent, fluorescent, black and infrared bulbs. Leave one box exposed only to natural light for a control. Count how many pupa develop in each box after two weeks, to see the effects of different types of light on pupa growth.

Obtain 200 mealworms. Put 100 in one box, and 100 in an identical box. Wrap copper wire 200 times around a steel pole; connect the wire to a transformer that is plugged into an electrical socket, to create an electromagnet. Put the electromagnet in one box, and turn it on. Make an identical electromagnet and put it in the second box, but do not turn it on. Fill both boxes with about an inch of bran and pieces of an apple, weighing them to provide identical amounts of food. Observe the mealworms as they develop over five weeks, and record when they go from pupa to beetle stages. Note whether there is a difference in growth between mealworms exposed to a constant electromagnetic field and those that are not exposed.

Obtain 150 mealworms, and place 50 of them each in three identical containers. Pour one cup of a mixture of corn meal and bran into the first container, one cup of wheat and bran into the second container, and one cup of oatmeal and bran into the third container. Add to each container an identical amount of apple slices. Observe the mealworms over four weeks, and count them to see if there are any differences in how the different food sources affect the rate at which they become adult beetles, and how many adults develop in each container.