Biology I Honors
Research I
2012-13
Title: Variation in Pea Seeds
Purpose:
- To demonstrate variation in numbers of seeds in different types of pea pods
- To organize and graph data
- As students complete the lab exercise, students are to complete their lab notebooks and follow the correct Lab Notebook format found at the course website.
Research Question {Problem}
- Students are to create a problem based on under-lined section in the purpose section above.
- Remember the correct format of the problem.
- Must be written as an open-ended question.
Pre-Lab Questions
- There are no pre-lab questions for this lab exercise
Introduction
- Students should complete their introduction based background information on peas
- Types of Peas
- Where peas are found in the world
- Data on how many people consume peas in a year
- Threats to pea agriculture in the world
- Example(s)
- Drought
- Pests
Hypothesis:
- Students must create a hypothesis using the if-then format.
- Hence, students should establish an independent variable and a dependent variable
Thesis Statement:
- See how the thesis statement should be developed under the “lab notebook” tab on the course website.
Materials:
- 25 Samples of EACH TYPE of pea pod.
- It is suggested that students have a minimum of TWO types of pea pods. THREE types are strongly recommended
String Beans
Lima Beans
Procedure: (Must be written in the correct format in lab notebook…See course website for details)
- Describe the shape, size, texture, color, etc of different types of pea pods
- Open 25 pods of each type of pea
- Count the number of pea seeds in each pod
- Record your data in a data chart
- Determine the following statistics:
- Average number of peas per pod (total number of seeds/total number of pods)
- Range in number of peas per pod
- Median (middle value)
- Mode (most frequent value)
- Obtain data on average number of peas per pod in different types of pea pods from other groups
- Use the averages to construct a bar graph
- Type of seed on horizontal axis
- Average number of seeds on vertical axis
Results:
- Data chart for your pea seed counts
- Data chart for class data
- Graph
- View course website under “Lab Notebook” tab for instructions how to complete results section.
Discussion:
- View course website under “Lab Notebook” tab for instructions how to complete discussion section.
Conclusion:
- View course website under “Lab Notebook” tab for instructions how to complete the conclusion section.
- Include information about which type of pea shows the least variation and which type shows the most variation in number of peas per pod
**STUDENTS ARE TO FOLLOW FORMAT POSTED ONLINE FOR LAB NOTEBOOK.ALL SECTIONS SHOWN ONLINE MUST BE INCLUDED IN LAB NOTEBOOK WRITE-UP. THIS IS A BRIEF CONCISE GUIDE FOR THE LAB EXERCISE.