Bean Beetle Nutrition and Development Lab: An Iterative Approach to Experimental Design
Tested Studies in Laboratory Teaching, 2016, Volume 37
Julie Laudick & Christopher Beck
Abstract
In this lab, students work first independently and then collaboratively to formulate a novel hypothesis and
design an experiment to test it. Bean beetle (Callosobruchus maculatus) larvae can develop inside multiple
types of host beans, but they develop more quickly and grow larger in more nutritious beans. Students test
the effects of a nutrient of interest on larval development by adding it to flour made from nutrient deficient
beans. A female beetle will lay eggs on a gelatin capsule full of the modified bean flour, as she would on a
natural bean. The larvae developing inside the experimental capsules are compared with control capsules.
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