Life cycle and growth curve of a butterfly, frog and bean plant
Integrated ScienceLife ProcessesAges 12–13
Use it with your class: students open it from a link or a QR code, with no account needed.
Next in Life Processes
Pick an organism and press Play: the life-cycle stages (egg → caterpillar → pupa → butterfly; egg → tadpole → frog; seed → seedling → mature plant flowering and fruiting) light up one by one over the days, alongside a growth curve where size rises then levels off. Drag the temperature and nutrition sliders right on the picture: a favorable temperature (about 25–30 °C) shortens the life cycle, while too cold or too hot stops development; too little food means slower, smaller growth. Click a stage or drag along the timeline to skip ahead or back.
Lesson: The concepts of growth and development and the factors affecting them; Practical applications of growth and development
What it shows
Growth is an increase in size and mass, while development is the change in form and function through the stages of a life cycle. The butterfly shows complete metamorphosis (egg, caterpillar, pupa, adult), the frog changes from a gill-breathing tadpole into a lung-breathing adult, and the bean plant goes from seed to flowering and fruiting. Growth curves rise and then level off. Temperature controls the rate: in this model development is fastest near 28 °C and stops when it is too cold or too hot, while a poor food supply slows growth and reduces final size.
How to use
Choose an Organism and press Play, with Show growth curve on, to watch the stages light up day by day. Then drag the temperature slider on the picture, or set Ambient temperature, to a cool, a favorable and a hot value, and note how many days the life cycle takes each time. Repeat with low and high Nutrition / food supply. Click a stage or drag along the timeline to revisit it, and use Simulation speed to shorten long runs.
Parameters you can change
- Organism Butterfly (complete metamorphosis), Frog, Bean plant
- Ambient temperature 5–45 °C
- Nutrition / food supply 20–100 %
- Simulation speed 1–10 days/second
- Show growth curve
Questions to explore
- What does it mean when the growth curve rises steeply and then levels off?
- How does the length of the life cycle change between 20 °C and 28 °C, and why?
- Frogs and butterflies both undergo metamorphosis; how do their life cycles differ?
