Biology and Honors Biology Pill Bug Lab

In all levels of Upper School Biology, students examined the common “Pill Bug”, scientifically known as the Armadillidium Vulgare. Students discovered that this “bug” that they’ve likely encountered frequently throughout their lives has much more going on than they might have expected. In fact, it is not an insect at all, but a species related to lobsters, who serve the much greater purpose of breaking down dead plant matter.

In this lab, students are introduced to the idea of collecting data while getting up close and personal with the Pill Bugs. Students started with guided observations, looking to verify specific features of the Pill Bug. If you, like me, grew up calling these creatures “Roly Polies”, you might be surprised to learn that not all Pill Bugs choose to roll up when disturbed! Some are “Hikers” who start moving faster when touched. 

Students were then tasked with the challenge of identifying whether their Pill Bugs were male or female. This might sound like a straightforward task, but students needed to compare the abdomen of each Pill Bug to the diagram to detect the difference. This meant that students needed to flip over their Pill Bug, look at it with a magnifying glass, compare it to the diagram, and make a determination all before it had time to flip back and run away. While walking around the classroom, I heard lots of, “Just stay still!” and “Please don’t run away”. The Pill Bugs, of course, didn’t listen, which meant that students needed to work together to gather their data. 

In this multi-day lab, students became comfortable working with live subjects. They learned how to verify and categorize information, how to develop a theory, how to collect data, and how to graph and visualize that data. They also just got to have fun chasing around Pill Bugs at the start of the year.