Students practice sampling methods which can be used in the field to investigate the distribution and abundance of species populations.
Students practice calculating Simpson's Index of Diversity using playing cards as "species." Then they will use the equation and a sample set of data to calculate Simpson's Index of Diversity for a representative sample. Students can also conduct their own studies to obtain data.
Students will design and carry out a practical investigation of the effect of temperature on the activity of the enzyme lactase, when immobilised and used in a bioreactor.
Students compare water quality at different points in a stream or river. They will use freshwater invertebrates to obtain and compare biotic index scores for different sampling stations.
Students investigate how different treatments such as work-hardening, tempering, and annealing affect the mechanical properties of a number of metals.
Students explore some of the qualities of our sense of hearing and its usefulness to us. They can also begin to consider what the consequences could be of hearing impairment.
Students will make observations of the behaviors of brine shrimp in order to investigate the phenomenon of sexual selection.
Students read and analyze a topical news article about some aspect of climate change and share their analysis with their classmates.
Students clone a plant by taking cuttings. A closer look at the cuttings a few weeks later could reveal which characteristics of each cutting depend on the genetic make-up of the plant and which are strongly affected by environmental conditions.
Students study the structures involved in pollination. Having seen the common structures and how they vary in form from species to species, students should be able to make deductions about which pollinating agents and mechanisms affect the likelihhod of cross-pollination.
Students investigate how body mass changes as we change the amount of food we eat and the exercise we take.
Students investigate diffusion. They will set up cubes of agar jelly and see how far liquid penetrates them by diffusion over five minutes. Then they will calculate surface area to volume ratio for cubes of different sizes and consider the problems faced by large organisms.
Students investigate the effects of antiseptics on microbial growth.
Students extract an enzyme from biological material and investigate the action of enzyme on different substrates. They will also demonstrate that some enzymes catalyse reactions result in the syntheis of new biomolecules.
This experiment can be a student-led experiment or teacher demonstration. In this experiment students will add powder or finely-divided metal to hychloric acid and measure temperature changes.
In this experiment, hydrogencarbonate indicator is used to show the concentration of carbon dioxide in the environment of aquatic animals and plants. Over a 24 hour period, students will explore which combinations of plants and animals make a stable ecosystem in light or dark conditions.
Students take samples of a range of foodstuffs and burn them under a boiling tube containing a measured amount of water. They will measure the temperature increase in the water and calculate the amount of energy needed to cause that temperature increase, indicating the amount of energy stored in the food.
Students isolate the contributions of three of the four requirements for photosynthesis in leaves. It demonstrates that chlorophyll, light, and carbon dioxide are all necessary for starch to form in leaves.
Students investigate how lipase activity changes with temperature and consider how indicators can help us to follow chemical reactions.
In this experiment, the rate of photosynthesis is measured by counting the number of bubbles rising from the cut end of a piece of Elodea or Cabomba.