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How many Bio labs to qualify for a lab credit?


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My neighbor girl did 1 lab last year in her 10th grade Bio. Some folks here do 30+. What is standard -- and ethical to put on transcript?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Picking the labs will be another question for a different day...:)

 

I don't think that there is a magic number. Some labs are pretty quick, others will have phases that are done over two or three days. I think that you need to plan on a lab (real or virtual) for each of your main topics.

 

We tried to reproduce AP Bio at home, a challenge considering one of the labs requires electrophoresis equipment which even a lot of high schools don't have. Here is a case for a virtual lab (See Lab Bench.)

 

Also, biology labs may just fall in your lap. Something could happen in your backyard which can be watched, documented, sketched, etc. Be open to the possibilities.

 

Jane

 

P.S. I'm going to the post office tomorrow and will send off the promised materials to you, Beth.

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Hi Beth!

When I did Apologia Bio with my older ds a few years ago, we generally did one or two labs per module (16 modules in the book). so we did somewhere between 20 and 24 labs over the course of the year (memory is vague at this point - we met every other week for a couple of hours). This year I am doing Bio Exploring Life with younger ds. Two of his buddies are using apologia, and I am running labs for all of them. We are planning on meeting every Friday from 9:30 to 11:30 at my house. We did microscopy last week and this week we will be doing a measurement lab - the pumpkin lab from the EL lab manual, if you have it. I am in the process of planning labs to coordinate with both texts and determining how to rearange chapters of each text to best mesh. All that to say, after all is said and done, allowing for scheduling conflicts with sports, etc, we will probably do 20 or so labs over the course of the year. I may have them do some additional lab work at home - ecology field work, etc. Have you started EL yet? I still need to order the teacher's edition of the lab manual, but I think I can figure things our until I get it. Probably more than you wanted to know, but there it is!

Blessings,

April

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I don't think that there is a magic number.

 

:iagree:

 

I've seen numbers from 12 to 30 (and anywhere inbetween!) We do about 20 official labs for high school biology. When the actual lab time exceeds one hour, I count it as 2 lab periods. For example, we might complete the frog dissection in one afternoon, but in a school setting it would take several lab periods.

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My neighbor girl did 1 lab last year in her 10th grade Bio. Some folks here do 30+. What is standard -- and ethical to put on transcript?

 

Thanks in advance.

 

Picking the labs will be another question for a different day...:)

 

Our co-op does approximately 18 two hour labs. This does not count time spent pre-reading the lab report and answering any pre-lab questions. This also doesn't count the time spent completing a formal lab report.

 

FWIW, I do not spend any time trying to figure out what our local high schools require because my babysitter described her Biology class and it was pathetic.

Holly

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My neighbor girl did 1 lab last year in her 10th grade Bio. Some folks here do 30+.

 

My son did about one lab a week for Biology. I don't know what's "standard," but we wouldn't count Biology as a "lab" class if he'd done fewer than, oh, say -- ten? Just pulling that out of my hat, though. :)

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  • 2 weeks later...
Hi Beth!Have you started EL yet? I still need to order the teacher's edition of the lab manual, but I think I can figure things our until I get it. Probably more than you wanted to know, but there it is!

Blessings,

April

 

April,

We meet again! :)

 

No, I haven't bought the lab manual yet. The pumpkin lab sounds interesting. DH wants me to gather all the supplies and he plans to do the labs w/ ds on Saturdays. I will plan for at least 20 labs, which sounds reasonable.

 

Any tips & tricks will be much appreciated!

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