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Welcome! Here you will find copies of most of the labs that my students perform in their Living Environment class.
Biochemistry
- Growing Bacteria (aka Making Yogurt)
This lab can be used either in the context of Taxonomy (learning about Bacteria) or Biochemistry (learning about Protein Chemistry). Either way, it's fun to watch the students' faces when they taste tart, plain yogurt for the first time! I have 1/2 pint Mason jars that we do this in. I require each group to make one jar of plan yogurt and then I allow them to make one jar of flavored yogurt (flavored with honey, maple syrup, vanilla, or different jams).
- Leaf Structure
Students explore leaf structure in the context of viewing it as a set of adaptations which support photosynthesis. After a lecture on leaf structure and photosynthesis, we look at a prepared slide cross-section through a leaf. Students label a diagram, make their own labeled drawing of the slide, and then, in a cut-and-paste wrap-up, reconstruct a leaf from illustrations of the various anatomical structures. In addition, students must integrate into the drawing the sun and molecules of CO2, H2O, O2 as the cast of relevant characters. Download the molecule diagrams (each student only needs 1/4 of this sheet).
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