Updated Thursday, February 02, 2012
         
                    Introduction for Biology 1
                                                                                                 
  

 Home Page
Assign-a-Day

 

 

 

B-1 Support Doc (Inquiry)

State
Standards
for
Biology

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 The Nature of Science  
What is science? Discussion questions about science we did in class (ppt)

◊  Hypotheses?  Theories?  Laws?  Read here  
 

 

  
Safety
   ◊  Classroom Safety Manual and Contract   (on quiz)              
         You are responsible for this. 
         Keep the copy given to you in class.

 
 
Metrics
   ◊  History
   ◊  Metric Prefixes
   ◊  Metrics Power Point
 

Look who's not using metrics in the world, still.

 


To get a great sense of how units of measurement can be used, watch this interactive sliding scale, spanning from the largest thing imaginable to the smallest thing conceivable.

Scale conversions chart

 
Lab Equipment
   ◊  Do you know what these items are and how they're used?

Balances, triple beam or electronic pH indicator paper, pH buffer solution
Beakers (50mL, 100 mL, 250mL)
Prepared slides of normal cells, cancerous cells, human cheek cells, onion root cells, bacteria,
    protists, fungi, sickle cell blood, chromosome smear, whitefish blastula, etc.
Burners (Bunsen), flint strikers Pipettes / droppers
Petri dishes
Chemicals & other consumable materials depending on planned laboratory investigations
Ring stand, ring clamp, and test tube clamp
Erlenmeyer flasks
Stirring rods, spatulas, scissors, chemical scoop
Evaporating dishes
Stoppers – rubber, cork
Filter paper Test tubes, clamp, holder, and rack
Forceps
Test tube brushes
Funnels
Thermometers (alcohol, digital)
Graduated cylinders (10 mL & 100 mL)
Tongs (crucible, beaker)
Hand lenses (magnifiers)
Watch glasses, spot plate
Hot plates
Wire gauze with ceramic centers
Measuring tools (rulers, meter stick, meter tapes, stop watch or timer)
Wood splints
Microscopes (compound & dissecting)
Microscope slides & cover slips, light source, lens paper
Lab aprons, safety goggles, gloves
Measuring tools: clear metric rulers, meter sticks, and meter tapes; stop watch or timer
 
Inquiry / Experimental Design
  

   ◊  Experimental Design Reference Guide 
               Print this document for your notebook. 

Although not all knowledge in science is gained from one particular method, the following steps to scientific discovery is good to use if such an ideal situation presents itself.  That is to say, SOMETIMES a researcher will have the luxury of following these steps:

     1. Finding the right problem/question to explore

     2. Doing extensive research about the problem

     3. Developing a testable hypothesis

     4. Constructing properly an experimental design ◊

     5. Running the experiment and collecting data

     6. Analyzing/interpreting the data (assigning meaning)

     7. Assessing the validity of the original hypothesis
        (substantiating or refuting it....rewriting the hypothesis
         and testing it again...)

 

 
Microscopy
 
"People should be ashamed to use the wonders of science and technology if they don't know any more about it than a cow knows about the botany of the grass it relishes in eating."  

Albert Einstein
 		  
  
   ◊   Magnification Power Point from class

   ◊   Proper Microscope Image Drawing 
          Print this document for your notebook.
 

  
   ◊  Microscopy links
   ◊  A virtual microscope activity  
   ◊  All about different scopes Click English, then "Equipment" and "Gallery"
    ◊  Scope parts/types		  
   ◊  We use these types in this class:
       > Compound Light Microscope
           > Dissecting Microscope

         Test Yourself on the
         parts.....

  

Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) How Do They Work?


Electron micrograph close-up of a weevil (Curculionidae family) - its snout is just over 100 microns wide. (Dartmouth Electron Microscope Facility/Dartmouth College)


Scanning electron microscope image of a leaf from a Black Walnut tree. Image shows a cross-section of a cut leaf, its upper epidermal layer, mesophyll layer with palisade cells and vascular bundles, and lower epidermal layer. The protrusion at center is just over 50 microns tall. (Dartmouth Electron Microscope Facility/Dartmouth College)
 

_________________________________________________

Transmission Electron Microscopes (TEM) How Do They Work?

Read about this TEM.  It can magnify up to 50 million X and cool specimens to 15 kelvins or warm them to 1300 kelvins.

 

 

 

 

Golgi TEM - Plant cellsGolgi body of a cell...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The inside of a bacterium.

  
   ◊  Website with slide pictures 


  Take a look at the following SEM images (that have been colorized).  These are images from the book 'Microcosmos,' created by Brandon Brill from London.  See if you can guess what it is you are looking at.  Then check the answers at the bottom.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.

7.

8.

9.

10.

11.

12.

1. Bacteria on a human tongue
2. Human eyelashes
3. Household dust which includes long hairs such as cat fur, twisted synthetic
   and woolen fibers, serrated insect scales, a pollen grain, plant and insect remains
4. Cut hairs and shaving foam between two razor blades
5. Human sperm
6. Human head louse on a hair
7. Head of a mosquito
8. The weave of a nylon stocking
9. A silicon microchip
10.The surface of a strawberry
11. Velcro
12. An ant holding a microchip