Investigating Gravitropism with Dandelions
This experiment offers a simple, cheap and fun way to look at gravitropism over the course of a double lesson, using the strong gravitropic response of common dandelions.
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Investigations into eutrophication
This brief resource gives five starter ideas for students and classes who want to investigate eutrophication, with options including using duckweed, algae and other plants.
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Video demo - How do nettles sting?
This video demo shows a quick and easy plant practical for your biology lab. Using Universal Indicator paper, students investigate the pH of nettle stings. This can easily be built up into a broader investigation, or used as a quick practical to introduce the topics of plant defences, adaptations and specialised cells.
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The Structure of Flowers
Diagram of a dissected flower with stamens and carpel, in this case a Brassica rapa (fast plant)
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Student Sheet 18 - Koch's Postulates
Robert Koch was a bacteriologist who lived from 1843 to 1910. In his work on diseases, he was trying to establish whether a microbe, obtained from a diseased patient, was in fact the cause of the disease. This protocol allows students to demonstrate and test Koch’s Postulates, using apples infected with the fungus Penicillium expansum.
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Measuring Stomatal Density
Stomata control the movement of gases in and out of a leaf, making carbon dioxide available for photosynthesis, and controlling the loss of water from the leaf through transpiration. There are a number of ways to measure stomatal density, and the different techniques are explored here. These include using clear nail varnish, Germolene New Skin and water-based varnish.
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Microorganisms - a world in a hanging drop
Do all microorganisms look the same? Can they move and change shape? What do they feed on? How small are they . . . and are they actually alive? This activities looks microorganisms under a microscope using the hanging drop technique.
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Student Sheet 20 - Can plants make starch in the dark?
Can plants make starch in the dark? In this practical, students investigate the conditions needed for starch production in a leaf, using leaf discs and carrying out the starch test. The resource includes worksheets and teachers' notes.
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