We talked to two DSST: Stapleton High School teachers - Mr. Chan and Mr. McCall to give us their lists of their favorite high school science labs. Check them out!
Jonathan Chan’s Favorite Freshman Physics Labs
- Freefall Lab. “We drop a medicine ball or tennis ball off of the balcony, but we add coffee filters and other air resistance factors to change the falling rates.”
- Circuitry Lab. “Students wire circuits with switches, parallel series and we learn how a house would be wired.”
- Light Bulb Efficiency Lab. “Students follow heat loss through temperature guns and thermometers to determine the most efficient light bulbs.”
Lewis McCall’s Top 5 Biology Labs
- Miracle Fruit Lab. “We get students to taste this fruit that inhibits their sour and sweet receptors. They eat lemons in class and they taste like lemonade. It makes the concept come alive for students.
- Gene Insertion Lab. “We insert jelly fish genes into bacteria so they glow in the dark.”
- Blood Type Lab. “Students take their own blood types and they talk about blood donation and the inheritance of blood groups.”
- Dissection Lab. “We get about 20 different species (snakes turtles birds, rats, bullfrogs, salamanders), and every group dissects something different. We discuss the evolution of different body structures.”
- Nematode Lab. “We get two types of C. Elegans, both mutants and allotypes. Students train these microscopic worms to associate salt with food and then put them on a salt gradient and then we do statistical analysis to see if they move toward the salt. Students link their findings to the cell signal pathways and how the mutations has impacted their neurological pathways. They produce college style research posters.”
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