KS3 Lab Skills Course – 6 week course, 2 hrs/week

next dates tbc

It will be in the biology lab (ground floor lab number F8) at Petroc College, Old Sticklepath Hill, Barnstaple, Devon, EX31 2BQ.

You will have access to a dedicated virtual classroom space, where you will find copies of the presentations, method sheets and a safe place for us to share our experiment photos.

This course includes the British Science Association’s Bronze Level Crest Award certificate, students can work towards this if they want to, let us know at the booking stage if you’d like to. The kind of thing we’ll need to assess for this award can be found here and we’d do this by talking to the students and through observations (we don’t expect any essays or answering of any written Qs or homework).

DATES:     Next course dates TBC

PRICE: £150 (£12.50/hr)

HOW TO BOOK: TBC

CONTENT:

Week 1) Laboratory safety. Pipetting. Microscopy & sample prep.

The first week we will introduce the lab, and the typical equipment found within it. We will go over lab safety rules. Youngsters will get hands-on using auto pipettes  needed to transfer tiny volumes of liquid. They’ll learn how to use microscopes and prepare samples for microscopy and carry out some simple stains.

Week 2) Chemical reactions. 

This week is about chemistry and what a chemical reaction really is. We’ll understand energy transfer, see endothermic, exothermic, oxidation & displacement reactions. Students carry out a displacement reaction and there will be some demonstrations. Students will practise word equations.

Week 3) Enzymes. Bunsens.

This week is all about catalysts, and enzymes, the biological catalysts. We’ll carry out an experiment to explore the factors that affect their function and why. This week we will be using Bunsen burners so students will learn how to operate them properly.

Week 4) Chromatography. Diffusion.

Students learn about chromatography and the various different kinds and carry out an investigation to identify the components of a mixture. We will practise calculating RF values. The passive process of diffusion will be introduced in preparation for next week.

Week 5) Microbiology. Antibiotic testing.

Tiny invisible microbes are the topic of this week’s lesson. We will get the microscopes out again to view bacteria at a 1000X magnification, but we’ll need to stain them first! We also carry out the disc diffusion experiment using aseptic technique (bunsens again) to see which chemical compound kills our sample of safe bacteria.

Week 6) Osmosis. Flame tests.

Osmosis is a special kind of diffusion that will be discussed in this last lesson. We’ll carry out an experiment to show what happens to plant cells when the osmotic pressure is changed. For this we will need to use laboratory balances accurately. Will we revisit Bunsen burners by carrying out the flame test and analysis of various metals.