Apologia Biology: Cells and Experimental Design

Experimental design is key for me.  It’s more than the scientific method.  This coming week we are only meeting on Tuesday—Thursday is a holy day.  Several of the kids serve at Mass, so we decided to cancel classes.  I have gallons of hydrogen peroxide left from the catalase lab last week.  (Peroxide breaks down fairly quickly—which is why it’s in a brown bottle.  Light breaks it into water and oxygen.). So, Elepahnt’s toothpaste it is.  There’s a twist.  I’m going to show the class the reaction without telling them the amounts of yeast, water, hydrogen peroxide, or dish soap.  (Don’t dilute the hydrogen peroxide!). The kids are going to set up different trials to see which combination delivers the best foaming results.  I plan to warn them if they just dump materials they’ll earn a zero.  Oh, and anyone not wearing their safety glasses has to clean up the entire lab, not just their station.  Next week, we need to test.  I’ll post pix on Tuesday.

Update:  The lab went better than expected.  Next Tuesday, we'll review how to write a lab report. Here are the pix.