Experience is  the Best Teacher

Practice of lab and data analysis skills in many classrooms both in secondary education and higher education settings is often neglected in the effort to address content knowledge. However, in order to allow students to begin to think like scientists, it is important to provide them opportunities to learn about the tools of the trade and how some of these tools are applied to answer real questions. These are the major goals of an ongoing collaboration between members of the Roberts Research Group at the University of Rhode Island and Scituate High School. Below are some resources useful in helping to provide student the opportunity to PRACTICE science.

Pipetting by Design
This activity allows students to practice their pipetting skills prior to performing a lab where pipetting accuracy really counts. Students will benefit from reading the section on pipetting on the Virtual Lab Tour page prior to this activity as well as watching the embedded video. In this activity, teachers can easily and quickly assess student success by checking to see if the correct patterns and colors are present in a 96-well plate after the students have completed their assigned protocol. [PDF Pipetting by Design lesson] [Word Doc Pipetting by Design lesson]  For teachers who wish to create their own designs, here is a chart with our color formulations to save you time. [PDF Pipetting by Design color chart] [Word Doc Pipetting by Design color chart]. Teachers, contact the site administrator to receive the images generated by following the protocols in the activity.

Protein Investigations
Introduction
A standard curve is a graph that can be used as a tool to determine the concentration of substances.  Multiple samples with known concentration values are measured, and the data is graphed. This graph, the standard curve, is a tool which can then be used with samples whose concentration is unknown. In this practice, students will take absorbance data generated using a spectrophotometer, graph it, draw a best fit line, write the equation for the line, and then use the equation to determine the protein concentration of several unknown samples.

Where the time and equipment are available, teachers my wish to have students perform their own data collection using the spectrophotometer as well as their own protein preparations for the unknown samples. Protocols are provided for these options. This lab fits well early in a first year biology course when students are first learning about biomolecules. These activities are grounded in scientific practice and make meaningful connections between biology, physical science, and chemistry. Therefore they are helpful for teachers wishing to address the Next Generation Science Standards (ex. HS-LS1-3: High School, Life Science: Structure and Function, Plan and Conduct an Investigation). The graphing activity is helpful in addressing expectations related to the Common Core Start Standards (CCSS) in Mathematics:

•     MP.4             Model with mathematics.
• HSF-IF.C.7      Graph functions expressed symbolically and show  key features of the graph, by hand in simple cases and using technology for  more complicated cases.
• HSF-BF.A.1   Write a function that describes a relationship between two quantities.

Student Learning Objectives
The student will be able to:

1.  Properly operate a centrifuge.
2.  Properly use a micropipettes and serological pipettes.
3.  Correctly operate a spectrophotometer and explain how it works.
4. Create a standard curve through graphing and drawing a line of best fit by hand, devising an equation for that line, and using it to identify unknown values give sample data.
5. Create  standard curve with a line of best fit in Excel and use this to assess accuracy of the hand drawn graph.

Protocols

• Protein Extraction Protocol (Word)
• Protein Extraction Protocol (PDF)
• Protein Quantification Assay (Word)
• Protein Quantification Assay (PDF)
• Creating a Standard Curve (Word)
• Creating a Standard Curve (PDF)
• Creating a Standard Curve with Excel (Word)
• Creating a Standard Curve with Excel (PDF)