COMPARISON OF PHOTOTAXIS RESPONSES USING IMPROVISED APPARATUS: A NOVEL EXPERIMENT FOR HANDS-ON AND MINDS-ON LEARNING
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Abstract
Inexpensive and simple experiments must be designed to provide ‘hands-on’ and minds-on’ experience for the school students. In this circumstance, present study is conducted with the aims (a) to improvise a low-cost method for easy measuring of phototaxis and (b) to compare phototaxis responses among three strains (red, sepia and white eye) of adult Drosophila melanogaster. Low-cost transparent tubes were improvised to conduct light/ dark preference and colour choice test. Results showed that all the three strains of flies were roaming randomly in parallel achromatic light. Sepia eyed flies exhibited maximum and fast positive phototaxis response than other two strains; and yellow light attracts all the three strains of flies. It may be concluded that, the improvised experimental setups of the present study are relatively inexpensive, simple and easily useable by the school students. Moreover, it is strongly believed that such inexpensive experiments can reach even the rural school students to award ‘hands-on and minds-on’ learning.
References
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