Butterfly projects for high school students have to be more advanced are more developed than those produced by middle school students. In high school, science fair judges are going to be looking for topics that go beyond the obvious relationships between common variables. In order for high school students to get the most out of their science fair experience, they will need to invest more effort into their projects.
The first butterfly science fair project idea that students can work on will examine how butterflies communicate. This project can be approached in two ways. The first option is to study a single species of butterflies. The student will want to set them up in a large terrarium. They will then video record the butterflies as they interact with each other. Students will want to record butterflies from a wide angle and from close up angles. They will want to focus on antennae movement, body language and particularly the angle of the wings.
The second approach to this project is to examine how butterflies of different species communicate with each other. The same experiment set up will need to be done. Students can also examine if butterflies communicate chemically like ants.
The second project idea is going to be one of many different biology science fair projects that they can produce. In this project students will be looking at one or more of the genetic reasons for a butterfly to fly. First of all the student can examine the chemical properties on the powder found on butterfly wings.
The second option is to try and study a butterfly's metabolism. This will be challenging. However, a student can measure how much a butterfly eats each day by using a butterfly feeder with a graduated fluid tube. They can then determine how many calories the butterfly consumes each day. This information can be compared to their body mass.
In this science fair project the student will be looking at how trends in the environment are impacting the reproduction and species variations of butterflies. This is a very complex science fair project that will certainly challenge high school students. Students will need to both conduct their own experiments and collect existing data.
To approach this science fair projects students will need to examine how butterfly numbers are being impacted by modern factors like warming temperatures and higher pollution rates. Changes in environment are also going to impact what butterflies can survive and what they will look like. Students can select any environmental factor to examine or any butterfly species to experiment with.
Butterflies make a great test subject for high school students. They are easy to come by, they are easy to handle and their reproductive cycle is reasonably quick. Students interested in working with butterflies in their science fair project will need to make sure they understand the species that they have selected so that they can provide the appropriate animal husbandry for them.
