Instructional Stategies Blog #4

Photosynthesis lab

Have YOU ever seen a plant breathe? 

This lab lets students observe a plant undergoing photosynthesis.

This inquiry based lesson has been found in 2 of the textbooks I have used and adapted by whomever. This lab has the capability of being expanded or shortened to encompass whatever level or grade students you may have. The pre and  post lab questions can be answered as a class discussion or as a lab group.

This lab is great because it requires very minimal supplies. Some baking soda, water, and a light bulb. This lab calls for Elodea, but I have used a regular aquatic plant from the pet store in the fish tank section.

The aquatic plant will produce little oxygen bubbles when exposed to light. Many for the flood light and

I typically allow students to preform both the ambient room lighting and high intensity flood light. They need to complete data tables for each and then graph as a class (if needed).

 

Instructional Strategies Blog #3

Observing Osmosis

So this lesson plan gets to mix a little direct instruction in (usually I do labs at the end of a concept, chapter or topic),  is inquiry based and includes my favorite subject...SCIENCE.

This lesson plan is from another awesome biology teacher. He has really great ideas. http://gonzscience.weebly.com/uploads/8/6/7/2/8672559/onion_osmosis_lab_2012.pdf

Students will practice their slide making and microscope skills and then they will observe what happens to onion cells in iso-, and hypertonic solutions.

These types of labs are usually available to be viewed as virtual labs on the computer, and sometimes that can be a good alternative if you don't have the resources or time available at your school.

Sometimes I do it as a demonstration lab when I have alot of students that need more explanation and guidance during the lab portion. And I have them answer the questions for individual practice and assessment.

You can also expand the lesson for advanced for hypotonic solutions and lysis.

Instructional Strategies Blog #2

Strawberry DNA Lab

I guess by now you can tell I’m a big proponent of doing labs. I think that being able to see something that we so often conceptualize is a great way to make the info stick. Also, it's a good time to use a  performance assessment.

DNA, everybody has it. And yes we’ve been told that it looks like a double helix, but what does it really LOOK like? Well, we can take a peek at some strawberry DNA with our naked eye.

This lesson plan was found at http://scienceteacher411.com/berry_dna.pdf

Using regular grocery store strawberries, you will squish your way into some DNA. 

I demonstrate the lab the day before so the students fully understand the lab directions, the purpose of the chemicals used and the extremely important safety procedures.

Instructional Strategies Blog #1

Cohesion Lab

In this lesson, students use inquiry-based strategies to explore the concept of cohesion. It's a great hands-on way to see cohesion in action.

This lesson plan was found at http://www.lessonplansinc.com/lessonplans/water_cohesion_lab.pdf

This lab would be used to enrich what the students already know about the properties of water.

Students will work in pairs with the following supplies: pipettes, pennies, small beakers of water and some graph paper.

Students take turns filling the pipette and slowly dropping water on the penny until it no longer fits and spills over. The students need to keep track of how many drops they recorded on their 3 trials.

The pairs fill out a data table with each others results and come up with an average for each student.

In pairs they construct bar graphs illustrating their results and answer the analysis and conclusion questions. 

 The pairs report their averages to me and together we graph the class data.

To accommodate students, you can allow them extra time to complete the graph or analysis questions. They can have their partner record their results or preform the dropping of water if they are unable. They can also only graph one set of data.