Activity no.

3 Acting like a Scientist Introduction: This experiment will test your ability to act and think like a scientist. You will find below a problem and a hypothesis, which are the first steps of a scientific method. As a scientist, you are required to find answers to the problem and test your hypothesis. Objectives: Design an experiment that will help answer the given problem

Procedure: Study the scenario that follows then make a plan of the experiment you will perform to solve the problem. During your summer vacation in an isolated village, you observe that the local folks use special concoction from three different leaves of plants to treat open wounds. You hypothesized that the extract contains healing properties. As a curious student, you are not only interested in the ability of the extract to promote healing of the wound but also want to find out which among the three plants contains the observed property. When you went back home, you obtained samples of leaves of the three plants and planned to perform an experiment using albino mice.

Conclusion: I therefore conclude that only one leaf contains the healing property that can cure wound.

Activity no. 20 Oh Boy, I Shrunk the Cells! Introduction: The cell membrane that surrounds the cytoplasm of living cells is a semi permeable membrane. It allows the entry or exit of some substances but hinders the others. The process of movement of water through a semi permeable membrane is called osmosis. When living cells are immersed in a solution with different amounts of solutes as compared to the inside of the cell, water either enters or exits the cell. As a result of the movement of water, the cell is deformed and, in worst cases, destroyed. Deformation of the cell structure as a result of water movement can be easily monitored under a compound microscope. Cell deformity is more evident in cells with large and numerous plastids scattered throughout the cytoplasm. In plant cells, the exit of the water out of the cell (removal of water) is called plasmolysis. Objectives: Demonstrate plasmolysis in plant cells

Procedure: 1. Mount one hydrilla leaf (or a thin slice of the lower epidermis of Rhoeo discolour) on a slide. Cover it with a cover slip. 2. Examine the normal living cells first under the LPO, then the HPO. Observe the plastids (chloroplastids for hydrilla) in the protoplasm. 3. Draw the unplasmolyzed cells. 4. Remove the cover slip and add a drop of concentrated salt solution on the specimen. 5. Examine the cells first under the LPO, then the HPO. Observe the plastids (chloroplastids for hydrilla) in the protoplasm. Notice the changes in the cytoplasm. 6. Draw the plasmoyzed cells. 7. Try to revive the cells by removing the concentrated solution using a pece of tissue paper and by tapping water with a dropper. 8. Examine the cells first under LPO, then HPO. Notice the plastids in the cytoplasm. Were you able to revive the cells?

Conclusion: I therefore conclude that the hydrillas cell structure is deformed with concentrated salt solution and can be revived using tissue paper and by adding tap water with a dropper. Table Of Contents

Activity no. 1 . . . Know Your Biology Laboratory Tools and Equipment Activity no. 2 . . . Thinking Like a Scientist Activity no. 3 . . . Acting Like a Scientist Activity no. 4 . . . Biologists At Work Activity no. 5 . . . The Compound Microscope Activity no. 6 . . . Focusing with the Compound Microscope Activity no. 13 . . Acidic or Basic Activity no. 16 . . Examining Animal Cells Activity no. 17 . . Examining Plant Cells Activity no. 18 . . Diffusion... Let Your Nose Tell the Story Activity no. 19 . . Passing Through the Gates of Cells Activity no. 20 . . Oh Boy, I Shrunk the Cells