How many labs for Biology? PS, HS, Online - all course types please

[Chrysalis Academy]

I'm interested in hearing how many labs your student did/is doing for biology.  I'm interested in collecting the full range of possibilities, for all different class types/locations/formats.

 

Did your student do biology at public school, at home, or via an online class? Or at a CC or coop?

 

And finally, is this an area of interest for your student, or was this more of a box check/fulfill the requirement kind of scenario?

 

TIA!

[JadeOrchidSong]

How old is your dd in 9th grade? Your siggie says 13. Is she turning 14 soon? 

Ds13 is turning 14 in a month. He is in 8th grade and is doing conceptual physics. He has probably 7 labs in the first semester. 

[happypamama]

Subbing. . . We are doing Miller-Levine at home, and it's going well, but we're having trouble getting the labs into our schedule. I was just wondering how many were truly necessary for an intro biology class that may or may not be followed by a more advanced/dual enrollment class. DD likes biology fine but hasn't expressed a real passion for it, fwiw.

[Loesje22000]

It may be my foreign eyes, but most 'labs' in american Labmanuels don't look like 'labs' in my eyes, so we skip a lot.

(We don't have formal lab requirements)

 

In our schedule we have 2x 1 'hour' planned for 'labs' and as we study three sciences simulteneously it depends on the week what we do.

Sometimes we don't have labs and then we skip labtime.

[freesia]

Ds did biology at home with Miller Levine and a LabPaq kit.  He did around 20 labs.

[Lanny]

My DD believes there were approximately 16 or 18 labs. In her Biology course from TTUISD, They used a CD for "Virtual" Labs, which I think is pretty cool, because the students can repeat an experiment and get different results, or, they can repeat an experiment that went awry and do it correctly.  I believe/assume TTUISD is now working on a Brand New Biology course, because that course is "long in the tooth" and     because I know they are working on a new Chemistry course, etc.    DD took the EOC for Biology during July 2016 and did very well on it.  

 

To try to respond to your last question, my DD took Biology because it is a requirement in TX (Biology is one of the 5 High School courses that require an EOC in TX) and because she is interested in Science and STEM things.  I believe that was the first course she finished of the 9th grade courses.   Her possible career interests at this time are Solar Engineering, working for NASA and Biomedical Engineering. 

 

Required textbooks (Sold separately):

• Levin, Joseph and Kenneth Miller. Biology (Texas Edition). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson/Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-115291-2 
• Pearson.Biology: All in One Study Guide. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson/Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-115522-9 
• Pearson. Biology: Virtual Labs CD-ROM. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson/Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-125682-3
  
  The CD-ROM allows you to conduct investigations related to the material covered in the lessons. These investigations are virtual laboratory experiences

Edited October 1, 2016 by Lanny

[Chrysalis Academy]

How old is your dd in 9th grade? Your siggie says 13. Is she turning 14 soon? 

Ds13 is turning 14 in a month. He is in 8th grade and is doing conceptual physics. He has probably 7 labs in the first semester. 

 

She turns 14 in November.  When she started school here in CA the cutoff was December 1.  It has since been changed to September 1. So she is on the young end for her grade, and had she started school a few years later she would indeed be an 8th grader this year.  But she hasn't skipped grades or anything, this is just the way the cookie crumbled with the way cutoff dates were when she started school.

 

(I fixed my response, I had it backwards originally - thanks, Arcadia)

Edited October 2, 2016 by Chrysalis Academy

[Chrysalis Academy]

 

My DD believes there were approximately 16 or 18 labs. In her Biology course from TTUISD, They used a CD for "Virtual" Labs, which I think is pretty cool, because the students can repeat an experiment and get different results, or, they can repeat an experiment that went awry and do it correctly.  I believe/assume TTUISD is now working on a Brand New Biology course, because that course is "long in the tooth" and     because I know they are working on a new Chemistry course, etc.    DD took the EOC for Biology during July 2016 and did very well on it.  

 

To try to respond to your last question, my DD took Biology because it is a requirement in TX (Biology is one of the 5 High School courses that require an EOC in TX) and because she is interested in Science and STEM things.  I believe that was the first course she finished of the 9th grade courses.   Her possible career interests at this time are Solar Engineering, working for NASA and Biomedical Engineering. 

 

Required textbooks (Sold separately):

• Levin, Joseph and Kenneth Miller. Biology (Texas Edition). Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson/Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-115291-2 
• Pearson.Biology: All in One Study Guide. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson/Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-115522-9 
• Pearson. Biology: Virtual Labs CD-ROM. Upper Saddle River, New Jersey: Pearson/Prentice Hall. ISBN 0-13-125682-3

   

  The CD-ROM allows you to conduct investigations related to the material covered in the lessons. These investigations are virtual laboratory experiences

 

 

What is TTUISD?  Texas . . . Unified School District, I'm guessing?  So was this a public school class?

 

Thanks!

[Lanny]

What is TTUISD?  Texas . . . Unified School District, I'm guessing?  So was this a public school class?

 

Thanks!

 

TTUISD is the Texas Tech University ISD.   It is run by Texas Tech University in Lubbock TX. It is a  school district  (ISD) that operates under the same regulations as a regular school district in TX (Dallas ISD, Houston ISD, Lubbock ISD, etc.) but their courses are for Distance Learning students..   They operate under the same regulations as Public Schools in TX, but they charge tuition, because they receive no funding from the State or Federal governments.  So, my DD, needs to comply with the same Graduation requirements that she would need to meet if she were attending a Brick and Mortar Public High School in TX, to qualify for a Diploma from Texas Tech University High School..  I hope I am correct with the description I've given to you here.  

[MorningGlory]

I teach a hybrid biology course (online/local lab meetings), and we will complete 24 labs and 2 projects (insect collection and biome oral presentation). 

 

ETA: This is an area of interest for this particular son who is in this year's biology course, but I did the same # of labs with my older son who was not at all interested in biology. He did, however, enjoy doing the labs with his class of local homeschool students. Biology lends itself to a wonderful lab environment when done in a small group setting. 

Edited October 1, 2016 by MorningGlory

[JoJosMom]

DD is taking Physics from Derek Owens.  There are 10 scheduled labs.

[lewelma]

In NZ there is ONE scheduled lab for Biology (This is a nationally moderated assessment). It is supposed to take about 30 hours to do the data collection and then analyze and write up a *research* report with references to scientific papers to support your conclusions. 

 

This is a box checker class for my ds and he will do this one lab. (Rocky Intertidal competition/predation lab)

 

Ruth in NZ

[Arcadia]

She turns 14 in November. When she started school here in CA the cutoff was September (it's now December 1, I think) so she is on the young end for her grade.

The old cutoff is Dec 2nd, the new cutoff is September 1st. My oldest is born Dec 1st and just made cutoff for K in 2009.

 

We are doing Bio at home with Miller Levine as spine. Campbell as reference, Labpaq Bio kit (25 short labs) for the labs and taking the SAT biology subject test when he is ready for it. Both kids are just checking the box, none has any love for biology.

 

We do three sciences every year similar to loesje22000 as that is what hubby and I are used to and our kids don't mind. That is why we are doing SAT subject tests for all three sciences and maybe AP for physics which is the science they like the most.

[Dmmetler]

DD's live local bio class is doing about 30 labs, but most of them are short, often more demonstrations than labs, and only a few actually have required lab reports. In comparison, she will do 12 for Aquatic bio (college level content with a mentor) of which one is more major, and is working on three longer-range projects, all of which started a year or more ago.

[Reefgazer]

Considering my griping on my recent thread about the quantity of work DD has to do, I am embarrassed to answer your question and realized I need to do some serious pruning in biology, as well as everywhere else.  So you don't want my advice on this one, and I'll just slink back into my hole now.

[Chrysalis Academy]

She turns 14 in November.  When she started school here in CA the cutoff was September (it's now December 1, I think) so she is on the young end for her grade.

 

 

The old cutoff is Dec 2nd, the new cutoff is September 1st. My oldest is born Dec 1st and just made cutoff for K in 2009.

 

We are doing Bio at home with Miller Levine as spine. Campbell as reference, Labpaq Bio kit (25 short labs) for the labs and taking the SAT biology subject test when he is ready for it. Both kids are just checking the box, none has any love for biology.

 

We do three sciences every year similar to loesje22000 as that is what hubby and I are used to and our kids don't mind. That is why we are doing SAT subject tests for all three sciences and maybe AP for physics which is the science they like the most.

 

Of course you are right - I said it backwards, so my post made no sense. I will go back and fix it.

 

Edited October 2, 2016 by Chrysalis Academy

[Chrysalis Academy]

Considering my griping on my recent thread about the quantity of work DD has to do, I am embarrassed to answer your question and realized I need to do some serious pruning in biology, as well as everywhere else.  So you don't want my advice on this one, and I'll just slink back into my hole now.

 

Oh, I'm right there with you, I think I had too many planned and I'm looking to prune ours, too - especially since I'm the one that's interested in Biology, dd isn't.  :001_rolleyes:

[lewelma]

I just remembered in 10th grade integrated science, the students did 2 weeks of labs all on cultures and cell bio. During these 10 hours of class time they covered no content.  Then the kids had to pick ONE to write up with a full scientific research paper (intro, methods, results, conclusions).  I'm guessing it would take you less time if you consolidated what  ever labs you choose and did them in one burst.  My ds did all the high school 10th grade chemistry labs in a 3 day course at the university.  If it is for box checking, seems the way to go.

[Arcadia]

Oh, I'm right there with you, I think I had too many planned and I'm looking to prune ours, too - especially since I'm the one that's interested in Biology, dd isn't. :001_rolleyes:

My oldest isn't interested in biology unless you are talking about computational biology. He did learn a lot just watching younger boy do his labs and the researchers demo/presentations at open houses.

 

So if you find the labs fun, you can demo and just let your daughter be the observer.

[Reefgazer]

As I was reading another thread you posted on regarding using multiple curricula for one class, I had to laugh, because that is *so* my M.O. and I really need to. Just. Stop.  LOL! 

Oh, I'm right there with you, I think I had too many planned and I'm looking to prune ours, too - especially since I'm the one that's interested in Biology, dd isn't.  :001_rolleyes:

 

[regentrude]

Since you want the full range: we did none.

My kids had zero interest in biology, and we fulfilled the lab science requirement with other classes: physics, chemistry, and more physics (DD)/astronomy (DS).

DD has four lab science credits; DS will have three. They took bio, just without a lab component.

 

ETA: DD had to take bio at college, with lab. Not having had high school bio lab did not cause her any difficulties.

Edited October 2, 2016 by regentrude

[happypamama]

Regentrude, thanks for the refreshing perspective.

 

Now, how many labs would be necessary to count as "bio with lab?"

[freesia]

I think the lowest number I have seen come up with online providers is 13.

[SparklyUnicorn]

Doing Bio now.  We don't plan to do a lot because my kid doesn't love biology.  So far we have done some stuff just getting to know how to use a microscope, names of the parts, making slides, etc.  We did a few other odds and ends involving the microscope.  We've done some dissections over the years including borrowing a humane model of a cat.  So I don't plan to do any of that. 

 

I agree with whoever said a lot of stuff that is called "labs" aren't really labs.  We've talked about lab safety.  Is that really a lab?  No, but it's often listed as a lab. 

 

Basically we plan to follow interest with this one.  Also having DS read through a small book on how to write lab reports. 

[EKS]

If it were my course, I'd be comfortable with listing a minimum of 10 (so one per month), but 15-18 (about one every two weeks) would be better.

 

If you do longer or more involved labs, you could break them down into parts for counting purposes.

[StillStanding]

With my oldest I taught a biology class in a co-op setting and we did 18 (one every two weeks).

 

Last year with my middle child I only did labs with the co-op and we met for 33 weeks (90 minute classes) and we ended doing 32 labs.

 

I will be doing biology again next year with my youngest. I have been asked to teach a class. If we all agree on the book to use I might but as of right now  I am leaning towards just teaching the labs. My youngest doesn't have any interest what so ever in science so I am planning minimal requirements for him.

 

I think anything between 12-18 should be sufficient for a first year of biology.

 

If your child really loves the subject then provide more :)

 

 

 

[Penelope]

We will get in about 18 this year, but that doesn't include virtual labs, which will be another 10-15. The virtual labs so far are taking MUCH less time. I am organized and have everything together, yet I don't see how students would ever get some of the labs done (the ones we are doing, some from Illustrated Guide but others from elsewhere online) in one period at school.

 

I think that if a classroom is doing more than about 15 labs, they must be counting the super short ones similar to those in the textbook (we aren't bothering with those), or have parts of them shown as demos, or have more things pre-prepared for the students, where they don't have to mix as many of their own solutions or make as many slides, nd maybe they are first shown what they are supposed to be finding on the slide. And to me, these are the things that are just as much the point of doing lab as any other reason, but they are things that take time at first.

[happypamama]

We will get in about 18 this year, but that doesn't include virtual labs, which will be another 10-15. The virtual labs so far are taking MUCH less time. I am organized and have everything together, yet I don't see how students would ever get some of the labs done (the ones we are doing, some from Illustrated Guide but others from elsewhere online) in one period at school.

 

Our high school science classes met 6 periods a week and received 1.2 credits instead of 1.  We'd have 45 minute classes every day, plus we'd have a study hall or an easy-to-make-up class either before or after the science class, and once a week, we'd go to science class instead of study hall, so we'd have 90 minutes for labs.  I guess that's how you'd do it if you don't have a block/half year schedule.  

[Penelope]

Our high school science classes met 6 periods a week and received 1.2 credits instead of 1. We'd have 45 minute classes every day, plus we'd have a study hall or an easy-to-make-up class either before or after the science class, and once a week, we'd go to science class instead of study hall, so we'd have 90 minutes for labs. I guess that's how you'd do it if you don't have a block/half year schedule.

I don't know how many schools do this. I think a lot just do fewer labs or easier labs. I never heard of block scheduling until a couple of years ago. And I never had any study halls in hs because I took a full load each year. I think there are plenty of labs in which you could put things away and finish them the next day. Some schools may have less lecture and more lab days if they do a flipped classroom, which is more similar to a homeschool model.

[RootAnn]

My high school, back in the 90's, had modular scheduling, so everyday had a different schedule and classes could be customized to last 40, 60, or 80 minutes. Labs were 80 minutes with a 60 minute lecture and 40 minute classroom sessions. We did labs every week and sometimes lectures included a demonstration.

[Kareni]

Since you want the full range: we did none.

My kids had zero interest in biology, and we fulfilled the lab science requirement with other classes: physics, chemistry, and more physics (DD)/astronomy (DS).

DD has four lab science credits; DS will have three. They took bio, just without a lab component.

 

A similar story here as my daughter had no interest in studying Biology.

 

My daughter did the following sciences while in high school.

 

9th: Physical Science

10th: Chemistry (Lab)

11th: G 101: Earth's Dynamic Interior (Lab)

11th: G 102 Earth's Dynamic Surface (Lab)

11th: G 146: Rocks and Minerals (Lab)

12th: ENVS 181: Terrestrial Science (Lab)

 

We allowed her to study the sciences that interested her at the community college in 11th and 12th grades (namely Geology and Environmental Science) rather than mandating that she study the more traditional Biology in which she had no interest.

 

None of the ten colleges to which she applied specifically requested Biology though all did require at least three years of science. She was accepted at eight of those colleges and wait listed by the ninth.  Bear in mind that she went on to major in Latin rather than the hard sciences. She did minor in Geology.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Guest]

Since you want the full range: we did none.

My kids had zero interest in biology, and we fulfilled the lab science requirement with other classes: physics, chemistry, and more physics (DD)/astronomy (DS).

DD has four lab science credits; DS will have three. They took bio, just without a lab component.

 

ETA: DD had to take bio at college, with lab. Not having had high school bio lab did not cause her any difficulties.

This is us as well. We are doing 0 in real life unless she gets a whim. She watches the lab demonstrations on the DVDs (we're using Apologia). She likes biology okay but isn't looking to major in it. That being said, even if she changed her mind and decided she did want to major in it, I don't think high school biology labs have anything to do with success in biology class in college as Regentrude pointed out.

[Sebastian (a lady)]

In NZ there is ONE scheduled lab for Biology (This is a nationally moderated assessment). It is supposed to take about 30 hours to do the data collection and then analyze and write up a *research* report with references to scientific papers to support your conclusions. 

 

This is a box checker class for my ds and he will do this one lab. (Rocky Intertidal competition/predation lab)

 

Ruth in NZ

 

Ruth,

 

I'd love more info on this.  What sort of parameters are there for the lab?  What would I search for to get more info?

[AK_Mom4]

DD15 uses Miller-Levine last year and we did 22 labs.  

 

Got the kit from QSL - we thought it was very well done, though DD was not fond of the dissections due to the smell of the chemicals.  We subbed in a freshly-dead fish for one of them.

 

http://www.qualitysciencelabs.com/biology-labs/

 

 

[FaithManor]

I am a fan of quality over quantity. So with our boys we did 4 or 5 long experiments that required data collection over a period of days, and a scientific paper on one of them. The papers tended to range around 10 pages, but that would have included some graphs/graphics.

 

ETA: The boys spent a lot of time with the microscope. They loved looking for all kinds of specimens and prepping slides. But I never considered that "labs" though I guess our local school does as long as the student does a drawing or some sort of rudimentary lab sheet about whatever they put on the slide. I will say though that there is definitely value in encouraging the curiosity.

Edited October 5, 2016 by FaithManor

[Susie in CA]

Agreeing with a previous poster about what the labs look like. I was always worried about this. Then my kids went to high school they did very few labs that actually looked like labs. It seems to me that the term lab in high school is used very broadly. Almost anything that is not a lecture could be called a lab. I find this quite disturbing in many ways.

[Chrysalis Academy]

Agreeing with a previous poster about what the labs look like. I was always worried about this. Then my kids went to high school they did very few labs that actually looked like labs. It seems to me that the term lab in high school is used very broadly. Almost anything that is not a lecture could be called a lab. I find this quite disturbing in many ways.

 

Agreed.

 

Anybody else feel like posting a list of the labs that they did for Biology? Or links? I think it might help clarify what is meant by "lab."  I keep using that word. I am not sure it means what I think it means.   :ph34r:

Edited October 6, 2016 by Chrysalis Academy

[Arcadia]

Anybody else feel like posting a list of the labs that they did for Biology? Or links? I think it might help clarify what is meant by "lab." I keep using that word. I am not sure it means what I think it means. :ph34r:

Have you read the AP Biology Teacher Lab Manual? There are examples in there. It is easier than my 9th grade non-honors lab back home in the 80s.

 

http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/ap/APBioTeacherLabManual2012_2ndPrt_lkd.pdf

 

ETA:

Main lab page here

http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/members/courses/teachers_corner/218954.html

Edited October 6, 2016 by Arcadia

[theelfqueen]

I think we did 17... a mix of virtual and wet.

 

Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk

[My3girls]

DD14 is using Campbell and Reese Biology at home.  She did the Landry Academy Biology Lab Intensive in August which included 14 labs with lab sheets and 1 formal write up.  She is considering doing the Advanced Biology Lab Intensive in the spring.  She does have an interest in the subject.  She's a life/natural science kind of girl. 

[Chrysalis Academy]

Have you read the AP Biology Teacher Lab Manual? There are examples in there. It is easier than my 9th grade non-honors lab back home in the 80s.

 

http://media.collegeboard.com/digitalServices/pdf/ap/APBioTeacherLabManual2012_2ndPrt_lkd.pdf

 

ETA:

Main lab page here

http://apcentral.collegeboard.com/apc/members/courses/teachers_corner/218954.html

 

Interesting, this looks like just 13 labs. And quite a lot of them are paper-and-pencil (or keyboard and screen) labs - modelling and such. Thanks for sharing.

[Arcadia]

Interesting, this looks like just 13 labs. And quite a lot of them are paper-and-pencil (or keyboard and screen) labs - modelling and such.

I looked at Bozeman AP biology lab videos to get an idea of how hard labs are supposed to be. My biology knowledge is average while hubby who was pre-med track in high school has forgotten all his biology. I do think the teachers are the ones who value add to the labs. Like I could value add for physics and chemistry from work experience but my biology is textbook knowledge plus whatever I unintentionally learn from ER/urgent care waiting areas.

 

http://www.bozemanscience.com/ap-biology