Energy Project

I chose to focus on mealworm poop as fertilizer, and I looked at research comparing it to synthetic fertilizers. I have attached my proof of efficacy document below, which is my final report on the project and includes visuals, graphs, and summaries of what was found in this research.

I find mealworms very interesting, and very useful. I wanted to learn more about mealworm frass because I have done a lot of research on them before, but I have not taken a look at this aspect yet, and I think that mealworms could potentially play a large role in the future as we strive toward natural energy sources and attacking climate change head on.

I started raising mealworms over a year ago, and I am trying to sell them and their frass to anyone who is interested. The trouble I have had is staggering their life cycles so that I constantly have a group of large larvae. Right now I have a small group of large larvae and many beetles and eggs.

I have worked in the past on research projects in which I took a look at a mealworm’s incredible ability to safely digest polystyrene. This is a potentially huge discovery for the future of biodegradation, as, thanks to their gut bacteria, they can eat styrofoam without facing any notable health detriments. Something that I want to continue to look at is the effectiveness of frass produced by mealworms who exist on a primarily polystyrene diet in fertilization. I think that, particularly if the frass is usable, there is extraordinary potential for mealworm biodegradation facilities, which could potentially reduce about a third of the plastic that sits in landfills across the globe. I could talk about this forever, I find it absolutely fascinating. I will include my paper from last year on this topic in case anyone is interested.

I feel like there must be a reason that these types of facilities aren’t a thing yet, but maybe I am just a genius and I will become famous and rich and save the planet with my use of mealworms one day. We’ll see I guess (don’t steal my ideas Mrs. Vogl).

I really enjoyed this project and the freedom that we were given in it. I love to learn about things that I am really interested in and make connections between those things and the content that I am studying in my classes. I had fun with this, and it also reminded me that I need to feed my mealworms. There were definitely some things that I could have improved on over the course of this project, but there are also things that I did a pretty great job of.

One of the things that I had a hard time with in this project was time management. I feel as though my work could have been a lot more detailed if I had spent more time on it in the beginning instead of forgetting to work on it. It didn't help that I missed a day either. I also could have been more productive with the class time that I did have. That's kind of the same thing, but I think that they count as two pits because the days that I had those problems were separate. Also because I said so.

The peaks of this project were getting to work by myself (I like group work, but this was a fun change) and getting to choose a topic that I really like. I have already talked about my topic a lot, and I don't want to be too repetitive, but I was definitely excited about it. As for working by myself, I was happy to get to work on a STEM project where I solely got to make my decisions. It was also easier not having to communicate with a group over zoom.

I feel like this project helped me to expand on my conscientious learning. I had to be curious and willing to grow my understanding of mealworm frass, which sounds kind of dumb, but I love it. I set goals for myself and I had a piece of paper where I was keeping track of what I had to do. I threw it away, but that's because I finished. I would say that I also worked on my character, as I had to be personally responsible and self-aware in order to get it done on time and with as much information as I felt was necessary to explain my research.