Required practical skills in biology – results
Using examples from a GCSE biology required practical, students practise the skills needed to present the results of investigations.
The examples are drawn from AQA required practical activity 3 on investigating the effect of a range of sugar solutions on the mass of plant tissue due to osmosis. In this case, sticks of raw potato are used.
Students consider how to ensure reliability and reproducibility in biology practicals. They identify anomalies in a table of results and recap how to deal with anomalous results in line graphs by plotting a line of best fit. They practise their maths skills by calculating the initial mass and final mass and then working out the percentage change in mass. After labelling a line graph with the necessary features such as title, units, dependent variable and independent variable, they have the opportunity to draw their own line graph using the results provided in the PowerPoint.
An extract from this resource:
To ensure reliability:
- Repeat the experiment.
- Discard anomalies.
- Calculate the mean.
To ensure reproducibility:
- Check the results with other people who are using the same method.
- Look for similar patterns.
