Free preview · Senior 6 Biology · Laboratory activities
Senior 6 laboratory activities
12 units · 24 activities. In every unit, activity 1 is improvised (simple local materials) and activity 2 is conventional (school laboratory equipment): two different experiments. Below are 5 free pages; then get the whole level in one PDF.
- Title and aim of every experiment
- Required apparatus and safety notes
- A clear, labelled drawing of the set-up
- Step-by-step procedure and a results table to fill in
- Observation and conclusion
- Three questions per activity, with sample results and answers at the end of the unit
See all 24 activities of this level and what each one is about
- Unit 1: Concept of an Ecosystem
- 1.1 Improvised · A sealed jar ecosystem. To build a closed ecosystem and observe how producers, consumers and decomposers keep it in balance.
- 1.2 Conventional · A pyramid of biomass. To measure the dry biomass of producers, herbivores and carnivores in a sample of grassland and draw a pyramid of biomass.
- Unit 2: Population and Natural Resources
- 2.1 Improvised · How much fish can we catch? A sustainable-yield game. To model how harvesting rate affects a fish population and find a sustainable catch.
- 2.2 Conventional · Organic pollution and oxygen in water. To compare the oxygen demand of water samples using methylene blue as an indicator.
- Unit 3: Circulatory System in Animals
- 3.1 Improvised · How elastic are arteries and veins?. To compare the elasticity of an artery and a vein using rings cut from blood vessels.
- 3.2 Conventional · Blood pressure and heart rate during exercise. To measure the effect of exercise on blood pressure and heart rate and the time taken to recover.
- Unit 4: Cellular Respiration
- 4.1 Improvised · Rising dough: temperature and yeast respiration. To investigate the effect of temperature on the rate of anaerobic respiration in yeast.
- 4.2 Conventional · Dehydrogenase activity in yeast: the methylene blue test. To use methylene blue to show the activity of dehydrogenase enzymes in respiring yeast.
- Unit 5: General Principles of Reception and Response in Animals
- 5.1 Improvised · Taste needs smell. To investigate how the sense of smell contributes to the ability to identify flavours.
- 5.2 Conventional · Dissection of a mammalian eye. To identify the main structures of the eye and relate them to their functions.
- Unit 6: Nervous Coordination
- 6.1 Improvised · How fast is a nerve impulse? A human chain. To estimate the speed of nerve impulses using a chain of people.
- 6.2 Conventional · The effect of caffeine on the heart rate of Daphnia. To investigate the effect of different concentrations of caffeine on the heart rate of water fleas.
- Unit 7: Hormonal Coordination in Animals
- 7.1 Improvised · Fight or flight: adrenaline and pulse. To observe the effect of a sudden surprise on pulse rate and relate it to adrenaline.
- 7.2 Conventional · A glucose tolerance test with simulated blood samples. To estimate glucose concentration in simulated blood samples and compare the response of two people to a glucose drink.
- Unit 8: Human Reproduction
- 8.1 Improvised · Modelling gametogenesis with cards. To compare spermatogenesis and oogenesis using cards to represent the products of meiosis.
- 8.2 Conventional · Follicles in the ovary. To identify and measure follicles at different stages of development in a section of the ovary.
- Unit 9: Skeleton, Muscle and Movement
- 9.1 Improvised · Muscle fatigue with a clothes peg. To investigate how muscle performance changes with repeated contractions.
- 9.2 Conventional · Striated muscle under the microscope. To observe the banding of skeletal muscle and measure the length of a sarcomere.
- Unit 10: Principles and Applications of Gene Technology
- 10.1 Improvised · Paper genetic engineering. To model how a human gene is inserted into a bacterial plasmid to make recombinant DNA.
- 10.2 Conventional · Gel electrophoresis of food dyes. To separate dyes by gel electrophoresis, as a model of separating DNA fragments.
- Unit 11: Variation and Selection
- 11.1 Improvised · Beak shapes and food: a natural selection game. To show how variation in a feature affects survival when food types differ.
- 11.2 Conventional · Sun and shade leaves: testing a difference with a t-test. To measure leaves from sunny and shaded sides of a tree and decide whether the difference is significant.
- Unit 12: Evolution and Speciation
- 12.1 Improvised · Building a cladogram of local animals. To construct a cladogram from shared features of animals and use it to show evolutionary relationships.
- 12.2 Conventional · Homologous structures: the pentadactyl limb. To compare the forelimb bones of different vertebrates as evidence for evolution.
i5 free pages to readScroll down: the free pages show the contents and a complete activity, so you can see exactly what you get.