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Year 12 Biology Depth Studies

Posted: 06 May 2019, 12:13
by jamo
Is any school doing a skills based year 12 Biology depth study that doesn't involve making agar plates. Has anyone come across anything cheaper or less time consuming considering the making and autoclaving of so many agar plates.

Re: Year 12 Biology Depth Studies

Posted: 06 May 2019, 14:09
by karend
I made up over 360 agar plates and it really did my head in!! It was disgusting and soooo..much work; I despise Biology Depth Studies.

Re: Year 12 Biology Depth Studies

Posted: 07 May 2019, 10:14
by jamo
I have to agree but whats more frustrating is there seems to be no one listening when us untrained Labbies or even trained have had our work load tripled by the new Syllabuses.

Re: Year 12 Biology Depth Studies

Posted: 07 May 2019, 11:25
by Prima
Hear hear, jamo - they certainly didn't think it through when they changed the Syllabus. 70-80% of my time in Term 1 was spent on Chemistry, with a lot of overtime (unpaid). Everything else fell apart and it caused a lot of tension in the staff room (to say nothing of mine!)

Re: Year 12 Biology Depth Studies

Posted: 07 May 2019, 12:05
by bigmack
Our mob just did this last term .
They had to do it on fermentation .
Each student had to choose something such as Kumbocha , Kimchi, sourcruit , yoghurt , cheese , bread with yeast and Sourdough etc and for the practical component they had to make one of these at home . They then bought it all in and had to give the class a brief discussion on what they had made . Then they got to sample each others produce . It was a great lesson and I was not involved at all :D

Strangely they were not permitted to study or bring in alcohol :whistling2:

BTW , bugger making 360 agar plates :crazy:

Re: Year 12 Biology Depth Studies

Posted: 22 May 2019, 12:52
by linotas
We don't have that component in our yr 12 bio but we are also an IB school so have IA's (individual in-depth investigations!!) for each IB subject! Lots of non agar stuff done. One of the easiest one numbers wise would be yeast respiration. Variables can be types of yeast. types of sugar, or temperature.

Re: Year 12 Biology Depth Studies

Posted: 22 May 2019, 13:45
by macca
I love my two Bio teachers, yr. 11 River Red gums and wetlands ecosystems, two full days out the river and to local wetlands taking water sample and looking for bugs yeah. Yr. 12 are doing Vaccinations & disease going to the local zoo to look at vaccinations and quarantine.

Yr. 12 Chemistry and extension science are doing my head in they are all doing something different. The cost alone is ridiculous.

I agree work load has doubled with no extra help, trying to keep up with practicals is a nightmare at the moment prac. exams and stem projects my prep. room looks like a bomb hit it.

Re: Year 12 Biology Depth Studies

Posted: 23 May 2019, 11:44
by karend
Poor Macca, I hear you-sounds like we all have a HUGE load and with no extra help and don't the teachers get cranky when you can't manage all the practicals!

Re: Year 12 Biology Depth Studies

Posted: 23 Feb 2023, 09:46
by labbassistant
I had a teacher come asking for us to buy a non-pathogenic bacteria for a students depth study. Does anyone know where I could buy a sample of something like this?
Thanks!

Re: Year 12 Biology Depth Studies

Posted: 23 Feb 2023, 11:13
by RosalieL
Do a search for peppercorn on here. I can't remember the details but you can get something out of soaking/boiling peppercorns to grow on plates.

Re: Year 12 Biology Depth Studies

Posted: 23 Feb 2023, 13:36
by Merilyn1
Or try Southern Biological - they will sell something.

Re: Year 12 Biology Depth Studies

Posted: 01 Mar 2023, 09:23
by mtg
just soak peppercorns in water, called peppercorn broth you get bacillus culture gram positive. I keep mine going in a flask with a cotton wool plug.