Advanced Biology Through Inquiry
Legacy Notice: The following collection of experiments utilize older generation PASCO sensors and equipment. View the updated versions of these experiments »
The following is a complete list of lab activities from PASCO's Advanced Biology Through Inquiry Teacher Guide. Each activity includes an editable student handout, a SPARKvue data file, IB/AP-alignment details, and a Teacher Resource file that can be accessed by logging into your PASCO account. The products required to perform these activities are listed below, as well as in each activity's materials list.
Grade Level: Advanced Placement
Subject: Biology
Student Collection Files
| PS 2852 Material and Equipment | 250.65 KB | |
| Advanced Biology Through Inquiry Intro | 1.63 MB |
Teacher Collection Files
Sign In to your PASCO account to access teacher files and sample data.
Activities
01) Enzyme Activity
Students use an oxygen gas sensor or pressure sensor to investigate the catalyzed decomposition of hydrogen peroxide by catalase.
02) Diffusion
Students use a pH sensor to investigate the diffusion of hydrogen ions through a semipermeable membrane, comparing the rates of diffusion for two solutions that differ in their acidity.
03) Osmosis
Students use a colorimeter to determine which extracellular fluid is hypertonic to a model cell and which solution is hypotonic.
04) Plasmolysis
Students use a conductivity sensor to explain the results of different concentrations of salt water on plant tissue before they design an experiment to compare the water potential of different plant tissues.
05) Cell Size
Students use temperature probes to measure the effect of cell size on cell cooling rate using cubes of potato tissue.
06) Homeostasis
Students use multiple temperature probes simultaneously to investigate the body’s ability to maintain homeostasis when subjected to a cold stimulus.
07) Cellular Respiration
In this lab, students use a carbon dioxide gas sensor to measure the rate of cellular respiration of germinating seeds. Students will design and conduct an experiment to investigate a variable that influences cellular respiration in germinating seeds or another organism, such as crickets. Successful experiments typically change variables such as study species, germination time, pH, temperature, or salinity.
08) Fermentation
In this lab, students determine the ability of yeast to use different types of carbohydrates—sucrose and starch—for fermentation and monitor the reaction using an ethanol sensor to differentiate this process from respiration.
10) Plant Pigments
In this lab, students will extract pigments from spinach leaves and analyze their samples using chromatography and colorimetry.
11) Transpiration
In this lab, students investigate the rate of transpiration in plants under normal and humid conditions. Then, they will have the opportunity to design their own inquiry experiments to test additional variables.
12) Mitosis
After learning the technique for growing roots and preparing root tip squashes for microscope analysis, students observe the root tips for evidence of mitosis. They compare the number of cells in mitosis to the number of cells in interphase. They apply the chi-square “test of independence” to compare their results with provided data.
13) Meiosis
Students use physical models of chromosomes to explore the topics of meiosis and genetic variation. First, students use “paper chromosomes” to model the independent assortment and inheritance of fruit fly chromosomes.
14) ABI Transformation
Students transform bacteria with a plasmid that contains an ampicillin resistance gene and a gfp gene that is regulated so only some transformed cells produce the green fluorescent protein.
15) ABI Understanding Inherited Mitochondrial Disorders
Students use pedigree analysis and DNA analysis (electrophoresis) to confirm or refute the initial diagnosis of MELAS for two patients.
16) ABI Sickle Cell Gene Detection
Students use electrophoresis to analyze DNA samples from a child and the child’s parents to determine if the child has inherited a mutation in the gene for hemoglobin B.
17) Energy Dynamics
Students set up a variety of simple detritus-based model systems to estimate energy flow and carbon cycling within an ecosystem. Students set up their ecosystem with a known detritivore, a known decomposer, or a combination of both detritivore and decomposer. The teacher provides students with data from two control systems to help interpret changes in the experimental systems.
18) Artificial Selection
Students follow the growth and development of Wisconsin Fast Plants® (a variety of Brassica rapa) through two generations. These plants have a short life cycle, can be grown easily in the classroom, and offer an assortment of traits students can readily observe.
19) BLAST Bioinformatics
In this activity, students employ the same tools used by research scientists all over the world: online databases that allow comparison of DNA and protein sequences across species. Students compare 100-nucleotide sequences of the Hemoglobin B gene (HBB) to determine the relatedness of five different mammals. HBB codes for the beta chain of the hemoglobin protein; this chain is also referred to as beta globin.
20) Population Genetics
Students use class data for the PTC (phenylthiocarbamide) tasting trait to derive allele frequencies for a population. Based on their phenotype and predicted genotype, students use “allele cards” to simulate the next generation and determine if allele frequencies change over time in the absence of selection, non-random mating, mutations, and migration.
21) Mathematical Modeling of Evolution
Students work with a mathematical model and computer simulation to explore how inheritance patterns and gene frequencies change in a population. The model lets students explore parameters that affect allele frequencies including population size, selection, and initial allele frequency.
22) Animal Behavior
Students test the response of fruit flies to different stimuli and determine if there is a significant change in their behavior. They do this by constructing a choice chamber from drinking straws and cotton swabs and exposing the flies in the chamber to two environments, one on each end of the straw. Students then conduct a chi square test to determine if the flies display taxis and are indeed favoring one environment over another.
