Biology on a Budget: Experimental Design

 Next Fall, I'm teaching Biology again for the local Co-op.  There are some labs I do every year.  But it's always fun to change things.  I ran across this Biology Lab Manual, full of budget-friendly biology labs.  Look at the first labs labeled "Scientific Method" and "Lab Variables: Penny Drop Lab, Alka-Seltzer Activity, and Shape of Water vs. Drop Height. Additionally, there is a graphing exercise: Heart Rate Response to Exercise.  These types of labs are ideal to use at the beginning of Biology.  As an instructor, it’s important to teach lab skills, graphing, independent, controlled, and confounding variables,  and experimental design.  These labs offer an opportunity to review formal, written, lab reports.  I invest time at the beginning of the year hammering home these concepts integral to labs all year.