Tag: water

  • Investigation: Properties of Water (with Stats)

    Investigation: Properties of Water (with Stats)

    This investigation asks students to review the properties of water as they relate to life, usually a topic covered in the first or second chapter of most biology textbooks.   Students then perform an experiment where they test the number of drops that can be placed on penny and compare that test to drops that…

  • Investigation: How Does Temperature Affect Respiration Rates

    Investigation: How Does Temperature Affect Respiration Rates

    This lab is focused on fish and the metabolism of ectothermic (warm-blooded) animals.  The investigation  also be useful for beginning students in reinforcing good lab procedures and graphing.  I’m always surprised by how many students have difficulty reading thermometers and setting up a water bath. This lab has been redesigned to make it simple and quick.…

  • Case Study: John Snow and the Origin of Epidemiology

    Case Study: John Snow and the Origin of Epidemiology

    This case study explores a time before the Germ Theory when doctors were uncertain how disease was spread.  Current models, such as the humoral or miasma model could not fully explain how cholera infected some households, but not others.   This case story explores London, England in 1854 after an outbreak of cholera which had…

  • Investigation:  How Much Water Is In a Plant?

    Investigation: How Much Water Is In a Plant?

    Students compare the amount of water in three types of plants: a root (carrot), a fruit (grape) and a leaf by weighing samples and dehydrating them overnight.