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An inquiry-based, semester-long lab was designed for biology majors or nonmajors across introductory to advanced levels, using Drosophila melanogaster to test how rearing media additives affect female fecundity measured by egg counts. Its feasibility was evaluated across three student populations, enabling controlled experiments, hypothesis formation, variable identification, observation, and data analysis using simple spreadsheets.",{"@graph":69,"@context":122},[70,84,105],{"@type":71,"itemListElement":72},"BreadcrumbList",[73,77,79,82],{"item":74,"name":75,"@type":76,"position":8},"https://docshare.wps.com","Home","ListItem",{"item":78,"name":9,"@type":76,"position":14},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/",{"item":80,"name":40,"@type":76,"position":81},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/research-report/",3,{"item":83,"name":65,"@type":76,"position":19},"https://docshare.wps.com/document/rearing-media-as-a-variable-in-fruit-fly-fecundity-an-activity-to-introduce-scientific-methods-of-inquiry-to-biology-students/595413/",{"url":83,"name":65,"@type":85,"image":86,"author":91,"headline":65,"publisher":94,"fileFormat":97,"inLanguage":63,"description":67,"dateModified":98,"datePublished":99,"encodingFormat":97,"isAccessibleForFree":100,"interactionStatistic":101},"DigitalDocument",{"url":87,"@type":88,"width":89,"height":90},"https://docshare.wps.com/thumbnails/rearing-media-as-a-variable-in-fruit-fly-fecundity-an-activity-to-introduce-scientific-methods-of-inquiry-to-biology-students/595413.png","ImageObject",300,407,{"name":92,"@type":93},"Blitz","Person",{"url":74,"name":95,"@type":96},"DocShare","Organization","application/pdf","2026-10-30","2026-10-15",true,{"@type":102,"interactionType":103,"userInteractionCount":34},"InteractionCounter",{"@type":104},"ViewAction",{"@type":106,"mainEntity":107},"FAQPage",[108,114,118],{"name":109,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":111},"What is the main educational goal of the laboratory activity?","Question",{"text":112,"@type":113},"To introduce students to scientific inquiry by designing controlled experiments, forming testable hypotheses, and analyzing fecundity data from fruit flies.","Answer",{"name":115,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":116},"How is female fecundity measured in this activity?",{"text":117,"@type":113},"Female fecundity is quantified by counting the number of eggs laid under different rearing media conditions.",{"name":119,"@type":110,"acceptedAnswer":120},"Which student populations were used to assess feasibility?",{"text":121,"@type":113},"The activity was assigned to three groups: undergraduate biology lab students, an independent undergraduate research project group, and a Distance Education Biology master’s summer research group.","https://schema.org",{"og:url":83,"og:type":124,"og:title":65,"og:site_name":95,"og:description":67},"article",{"robots":126,"canonical":83},"index,follow",{"doc_id":128,"site_id":62},595413,1792171785,{"code":4,"msg":5,"data":131},{"doc_id":128,"user_id":132,"nickname":92,"user_avatar":133,"doc_module":4,"category_id":39,"category_name":40,"doc_title":65,"doc_description":67,"doc_content":134,"file_id":135,"file_url":136,"file_type":137,"file_size":138,"view_count":34,"is_deleted":4,"is_public":8,"is_downloadable":8,"audit_status":8,"page_count":29,"language":139,"language_code":63,"site_id":62,"html_lang":63,"table_of_contents":140,"faqs":141,"seo_title":142,"seo_description":67,"update_tm":143,"read_time":144,"preview_page_count":4},24464137899374,"https://us-avatar.wpscdn.com/davatar_3d24733baf745e90a7e4bdd5f77d97b2","Rearing Media as a Variable in Fruit Fly Fecundity: An Activity to Introduce Scientific Methods of Inquiry to Biology  \nStudents  \nLaura Wollard1,2, Benjamin Klein2, Darby J. Carlson2, and Kimberly A.  \nCarlson2*  \n1Winfield Middle School  \nWinfield, KS 67156  \n2 Department of Biology  \nUniversity ofNebraska at Kearney  \n905 W 25th St.  \nKearney, NE 68849  \nE-mail addresses: [wollardlr@unk.edu](wollardlr@unk.edu), [kleinb@unk.edu](kleinb@unk.edu), [carlsondj@unk.edu](carlsondj@unk.edu), [and carlsonka1@unk.edu](and carlsonka1@unk.edu)* to  \nwhom correspondence should be addressed  \nAbstract: A major challenge in teaching the process of science to students is designing and implementing laboratory activities that emulate what is actually done in a research laboratory. To facilitate this effort, science educators have been encouraged to design exercises that span multiple laboratory periods, encourage independent thinking, promote hypothesis-driven experimentation, and data collection and analysis. We have designed an inquiry-based, semesterlong laboratory activity amenable to majors or nonmajors and to introductory or advanced biology students. This activity utilizes Drosophila melanogaster, the fruit fly, as a model organism that allows students to investigate how different rearing media additives affect female fecundity measured as numbers of eggs laid. To explore the feasibility of our activity aimed in helping students learn the processes of science, we assigned the activity independently to three different student populations. These included 1) students in an undergraduate biology laboratory; 2) an independent undergraduate research project; 3) a Distance Education Biology Master’s graduate student summer research project. The goal of this laboratory activity is to allow students the opportunity to design a controlled experiment, formulate testable hypotheses, identify variables, make quantitative and qualitative observations, and analyze data using a simple computer spreadsheet program.  \nKeywords: Inquiry-based, fruit fly, fecundity, rearing media  \nIntroduction  \nDrosophila melanogaster, the fruit fly, was an early model for genetics research, which prompted scientists to develop media that produced consistently high numbers of offspring. Early studies proposed that the different varieties of yeast within the various media were influencing factors in fruit fly nutrition and subsequent development (Baumberger, 1917; Tatum, 1939; Robertson and Sang, 1944) . Media containing a variety of additives including pears, raisins, rice, molasses, and oat hulls have been reported (Bridges and Darby, 1933) . More recent work showed that developmental and fecundity (egglaying) rates varied when fruit flies were reared on media of sugar, tomatoes, and grapes (Jaenike, 1986) . Currently, commercially available dry mixtures aim to standardize the media used for rearing fruit flies (Flagg, 2005) . These media are intentionally produced unsupplemented and uncolored, allowing researchers to personalize it with their own additives.  \nThe effects of different food media ± yeast on fly fecundity can be easily observed and quantified, which lends itself to use as an activity for biology students.  \nFruit flies represent an exemplary investigatory tool for studying genetics both in the research and classroom laboratories. They are inexpensive, easy to rear, have a short life span (15- 20 days), are easy to sex, and require very little space or special equipment (Ashburner and Roote, 2000) . In addition, fruit flies are commonly used at all levels of biology education, from middle and high schools, to college level biology courses as a tool for teaching introductory Mendelian genetics. For these reasons, fruit flies make an ideal model organism for use in this laboratory activity.  \nEvidence, models, and explanation are part of the unifying concept and process themes in the National Science Education Standards (NSES) . Teaching biology students h","cbCaibbvKM3HvR9J","https://ap.wps.com/l/cbCaibbvKM3HvR9J","pdf",119616,"English","# Abstract\n# Keywords\n# Introduction","[{\"question\":\"What is the main educational goal of the laboratory activity?\",\"answer\":\"To introduce students to scientific inquiry by designing controlled experiments, forming testable hypotheses, and analyzing fecundity data from fruit flies.\"},{\"question\":\"How is female fecundity measured in this activity?\",\"answer\":\"Female fecundity is quantified by counting the number of eggs laid under different rearing media conditions.\"},{\"question\":\"Which student populations were used to assess feasibility?\",\"answer\":\"The activity was assigned to three groups: undergraduate biology lab students, an independent undergraduate research project group, and a Distance Education Biology master’s summer research group.\"}]","Rearing Media as a Variable in Fruit Fly Fecundity - An Activity to Introduce Scientific Methods of Inquiry to Biology Students | PDF",1792081094,15]