🔬 Read Lab Manual: Introduction to Labs

INTRODUCTION TO LABS

The lab exercises in this volume have been specifically designed to enhance the learning experience of students using Kurt P. Wise’s Devotional Biology as their text.

First, the labs have been designed in a sequence that comes as close as possible to both the order and pacing of the material in the textbook. Specific recommendations about when to take a particular lab is included with each lab, but labs taken in numerical order at regular intervals throughout the course will turn out to parallel the textbook order and pace fairly well.

Secondly, the labs have been designed to facilitate tactile learning of the material offered visually in the text and orally in the videos. Therefore, it is recommended that the labs be completed alongside the corresponding video and text material.

Thirdly, the lab exercises have been tailored for the environment outside the traditional science laboratory. The lab exercises have been designed, for example, to be as non-sight-specific as possible, so that people can do these labs just about wherever they are on the planet.

Also, lab exercises have been created to avoid using chemicals that are not readily available in the average household. This is partly because safely and environmental regulations prevent certain items to be shipped to anything other than certified science laboratories and other items to be in the possession of uncertified personnel. In cases where chemicals are needed they have been designed to utilize chemicals in very small quantities.

MAXIMIZE LEARNING

We would also like you to get the most out of your learning experience. To that end, there are some things that are likely to improve your experience with biology labs. They include the following:

• Use a Lab Partner. While all the exercises for this course can be performed individually, it is often fun and useful to have a lab partner to discuss ideas with, help take measurements, and reinforce your learning process. Whether your partner is a parent, spouse, sibling, or friend, you will have to explain what you are doing, and in the process of teaching another, you will better teach yourself. Always review your experiments several days ahead of time so you have time to line up a partner if needed.
• Read the Exercise Before You Start. Knowing what you are going to do before you do it will help you organize your work and consider safety issues. Your exercises will be done more quickly, more safely, and you will understand them better.
• Organize Your Work Space, Equipment, and Materials. It is hard to organize your thoughts in a disorganized environment. It is also difficult to work through a procedure efficiently if you are continually searching for needed items.
• Each lab lists the equipment and supplies needed for that lab, so assemble all required equipment and supplies before you begin working, and lay them out in such a way that they can be accessed easily when needed.
• Be Ready to Take Notes. Most of the lab exercises require paper and pencil or pen to take notes as you work through the lab procedures. In some cases, the information is to be recorded in data tables.
• The entire process goes more efficiently if you not only read the lab exercise over to determine what you will need to make the required notes, but also have that paper or those data tables available before you even begin the exercise.
• Follow Instructions. Follow all instructions precisely in sequential order. Many of the procedures have been developed over years of experience, maximizing both learning potential, safety, and time efficiency. Being creative might actually compromise one or more of these things.
• Think. After you have completed the experimental procedures, and before creating the final write up, stop and give yourself time to reflect on what has happened in your experiment.
• What changes occurred? Why? What do those changes mean? How do they relate to the real world of God’s creation? This step can be the most fun and often creates “light bulb” experiences of understanding.
• Cleanup. Always clean your laboratory space and laboratory equipment immediately after use. Wipe down all work surfaces that may have been exposed to chemicals. Blot any unused chemicals with a paper towel or flush them down the sink with generous amounts of water. Discard waste in your normal trash. Return cleaned equipment and supplies to the Lab Kit and store the Lab Kit out of reach of younger children and pets.
• Complete Your Work. Make all the notes, include all the required sketches, answer the required questions, and prepare your lab report. If you have properly followed all these steps and those above, the conclusion will be easy.

GENERAL LAB SAFETY AND PROCEDURES

GENERAL LAB SAFETY

Safety of our students is a priority. We ask that you please read and take seriously all safety instructions and follow all safety instructions while performing lab exercises.

Safety instructions include the following:

• Be Safety Conscious. By far the best safety tools that you have are your own brain and your ability to think and plan. Before doing any lab exercises, read through all the safety notes of this section of the lab manual and keep those principles in mind as you proceed through all lab exercises – even if a particular lab exercise does not include specific safety procedures.
• Then, before each lab exercise, read the procedures for that exercise, noting any safety notes and special procedures required in that exercise. Use that information to choose the best and safest location to perform the lab and to anticipate and avoid any potential hazards you might encounter during that exercise.
• Choose the Right Place for Your Home Laboratory. The best place to perform at-home experiments will be determined by the nature of the individual experiments. About half of the lab exercises in this volume are performed with pencil and paper in hand, while being among the organisms of God’s creation.
• A couple more require the use of a microscope and are best done in a place with a sturdy table, an electrical power outlet, and no microscope-breaking interference from children or pets. This might be the kitchen or dining room table. A few more involve the use of chemicals. The appropriate location for these experiments would usually be an uncluttered room where a door can be closed to keep out children and pets, a window or door that can be opened for fresh air, ventilation, and fume exhaust, and a counter or tabletop work surface.
• A kitchen usually meets all these requirements. Sometimes the bathroom works too, but it can be cramped and subject to interruptions. Review each experiment before starting any work to help you select the most appropriate work area for that experiment.
• Safely Store the Lab Kit. Some of the items in your Lab Kit may be dangerous to children and pets. Although the number of chemicals is minimal and they are shipped to you in only very small quantities, some of the chemicals may cause burns if mishandled, or can cause serious illness and/or death if consumed.
• Some of the lab items may be made of glass and/or have sharp edges that can cause cuts and scratches. There are also small items and materials that could cause choking, injury, or death if eaten or misused by young children. Consequently, between experiments your Lab Kit should always be kept safely stored out of the reach of younger children and pets. And, while the Lab Kit is being used, care should be taken to make sure that children or pets do not have access.
• Protect Your Body. When using chemicals, protect your hair by keeping it tied back from your face. Protect your skin by wearing old clothing that fully covers your arms, legs, and feet. Do not wear clothing which hangs loose enough to dip into chemicals.
• Protect Your Home. Cover your work surface with plastic or paper towels when appropriate to prevent ruining of furniture, and to aid in cleanup afterwards.
• Do Not Eat or Smoke. Since chemicals, dirt, and germs are often involved in laboratory experiments, you should not eat or smoke in your laboratory area.
• Do Not Goof Around. A laboratory with potentially dangerous chemicals and equipment is a place for serious work, not for horseplay! Fooling around in the laboratory is an invitation for an accident.
• Waft, Do Not Smell. If you are trying to smell something, WAFT the odors to your nose, DO NOT bring your nose to the odor. And this is how you waft: partially fill your lungs with air and, while standing slightly back from (not over) whatever you wish to smell, use your hand to waft (fan) the odors gently toward your nose. Lightly sniff the fumes in a controlled fashion.
• Never inhale fumes directly! Treat inhalation problems with fresh air and consult a physician if the problem appears serious.
• Clean Up Spills Immediately. There is nothing included in your Lab Kit that is especially caustic, but if anything is spilled, wipe it up with generous amounts of water. If something comes in contact with skin, flush the exposed skin with a gentle flow of water for several minutes at a sink or shower or hose.
• Have the Poison Hotline Number Available. Again, there is nothing included in your Lab Kit that should be caustic, but if you or anyone else accidently consumes or otherwise comes into contact with a substance that could be toxic or cannot be easily washed away, immediately call The National Poison Control Center: 1-800-222-1222
• Material Safety Data Sheets (MSDS). Once again, these labs do not require contact with dangerous chemicals, but an important skill in the safe use of chemicals is the ability to read a Material Safety Data Sheet (MSDS). An MSDS is designed to provide chemical, physical, health, and safety information on chemical reagents and supplies. It provides information about how to handle,
  store, transport, use, and dispose of chemicals in a safe manner.
• An MSDS also provides workers and emergency personnel with the proper procedures for handling and working with chemical substances. An MSDS provides basic information about physical data, toxicity, health effects, first-aid procedures, chemical reactivity, safe storage, safe disposal, required protective equipment, and spill cleanup procedures. It is important to know how to read and understand an MSDS. An MSDS is generally organized into the following sections:
  o Section 1: Product Identification: Chemical name and trade names
  o Section 2: Hazardous Ingredients: Components and percentages
  o Section 3: Physical Data: Boiling point, density, solubility in water, appearance, color, etc.
  o Section 4: Fire and Explosion Data: Flash point, extinguisher media, special firefighting procedures, and unusual fire and explosion hazards
  o Section 5: Health Hazard Data: Exposure limits, effects of overexposure, emergency and first-aid procedures
  o Section 6: Reactivity Data: Stability, conditions to avoid, incompatible materials, etc.
  o Section 7: Spill or Leak Procedures: Steps to take to control and clean up spills and leaks and waste disposal methods
  o Section 8: Control Measures: Respiratory protection, ventilation, protection for eyes or skin, or other needed protective equipment
  o Section 9: Special Precautions: How to handle and store, steps to take in a spill, disposal methods, and other precautions

You can view MSDS information on any chemical at www.hazard.com/msds/index.php. If you ever have a problem or question
about the proper handling of any chemical, seek information from this source.

GENERAL LAB PROCEDURES

• Use Distilled Water. Tap water frequently contains ions that may interfere with the substances you are studying.
• To avoid such interference, use distilled or deionized water any time water is needed for dilution of concentration or the preparation of experimental solutions. Wash used glassware with soap, rinse with tap water, and rinse again with distilled water.
• Do Not Return Chemicals. Once dispensed, do not return chemicals to their storage containers as this could cause contamination. To avoid over-dispensing, dispense only a little at time. Dispense more as needed.
• Do Not Touch. To minimize contamination, avoid touching the surfaces of clean items that might later come in contact with test chemicals.
• Pouring Powders or Crystals. To obtain samples of a powder or of solid crystals from a container, it is best to pour the approximate amount of powder or crystals onto a small piece of clean, creased paper for easy transport. Pour powders and crystals by tilting the container, gently shaking and rotating the solids up to the container lip, and allowing the solids to slowly fall out.
• If you pour too much, do not put any back in the container. Also, to avoid contamination, never put wooden splints, spatulas, or paper into a container of powder or crystals.
• Pouring Liquids. In these labs you usually use only small drops of chemicals. If the chemical is in a pipet with a sealed tip, use scissors to cut off the tip of the pipet perpendicular to the pipet body (cutting at an angle will distort drop sizes). To get drop sizes as uniform as possible, hold the pipet in a vertical position in front of your eyes. This way, as you slowly squeeze the pipet you can carefully observe and count the number of drops dispensed.
• Resealing a Pipet. If you wish to reseal a pipet with unused chemicals inside, heat the tip of a metal knife and press the pipet tip onto the hot metal while twirling the bulb. Never simply hold a flame to the tip of the stem!
• Measuring Mass. The digital top-loading balance is initially zeroed by pressing the zero button. This button also allows you to exclude the mass of a container: if you will be weighing something on weighing paper or in a beaker, first place that object on the balance without the substance you wish to weigh, then press the zero button. This will produce a zero reading, and the weight of the paper or beaker will be automatically excluded from the weighing process.
• Measuring Volume. To obtain accurate measurements from any glass volume measurement container, such as a graduated cylinder, you must identify and correctly read a curved surface known as the meniscus.
• Because water climbs up the sides of glass tubes, the surface of the water is curved, with the water being the highest along the edges of the tube. The standard manner of reading the volume of water is to read the volume at the very bottom of its curve. When using plastic containers, a meniscus will not form.

CLEANUP AT THE END OF EVERY LAB

• Disposing of Chemicals. Blot up used and leftover chemicals with paper towels and place in a garbage bin or flush down a drain using copious amounts of water.
• Due to the minute quantities and diluted and/or neutralized chemicals used in these experiments, this disposal method is well within acceptable levels of disposal guidelines defined for the vast majority of local solid and wastewater regulations.
• Since regulations occasionally vary in some communities, you are advised to check with your local area waste authorities to confirm these disposal techniques are in compliance with local regulations and/or if you should seek assistance with disposal.
• Disposing of Non-Chemicals. Discard non-chemical experimental items with household garbage but first wrap them in newspaper. Place these items in a securely covered trash container that cannot be accessed by children and animals.
• Cleaning Plastic Pipets. To clean a thin-stemmed plastic pipet, squeeze the bulb to draw up and then expel tap water from the bulb several times. Repeat this process with distilled water.
• Dry the pipet by repeatedly squeezing the bulb while tapping the tip on a clean paper towel. Then use gravity to help dry the pipet by forcefully swinging the pipet into a downward arch while squeezing the bulb. Lay the pipet on a clean paper towel or place it in a test tube stand and allow it to air dry.
• Cleaning Glassware, Plastics, or Equipment. Use a mild liquid dishwashing detergent mixed with warm water to loosen solids or oils that adhere to experimental glassware, plastics, and equipment and to clean laboratory equipment and the laboratory area after an experiment.
• Use tap water to rinse washed items well and remove all traces of detergent.
• Use a soft cloth or a test tube brush to loosen and clean residue from the surfaces of experimental glassware, plastics, and equipment.
• Use a final rinse of distilled water to clean tap water mineral residue from newly washed items, especially beakers, cylinders, test tubes, and pipets.
• Dry test tubes by placing them upside-down in the test tube rack. Air dry other items by placing them on paper towels, aluminum foil, or a clean dishtowel.
• Cleanup at the End of the Course. Since your Lab Kit contains potentially dangerous items, it is important that you perform a final cleanup to properly dispose of any leftover chemicals, specimens, and unused materials.
• Please take a few minutes to protect others from possible harm and yourself from future liability by complying with these final cleanup instructions.
• Do Not Sell. While you may wish to sell your used Lab Kit, this is not advisable and would be unfair to a potential purchaser. It is unlikely that a new student trying to utilize a used Lab Kit would have adequate quantities or sufficiently fresh chemicals and supplies to properly perform all the experiments and to have an effective learning experience.
• Further, it is doubtful that adequate safety information would be passed on to a new student in the same way it was presented to you. Instead, you would be responsible for any problems experienced by a new user.
• Do Not Return. Please do not return items, as we are unable to resell items or issue any refunds.
• Disposal of Chemicals. Due to the minute quantities, low concentrations, and diluted chemicals used in your Lab Kit, it is generally sufficient to wipe up any remaining chemicals with paper towels and dispose of them in a trash bin or flush remaining chemicals down a drain with copious amounts of water. Empty dispensing pipets and bottles can be placed in a normal trash bin.
• These disposal methods are well within acceptable levels of the waste disposal guidelines defined for the vast majority of state and community solid and wastewater regulations. However, since regulations can vary in some communities, if you have any doubts or concerns, you should check with your area authorities to confirm compliance with local regulations and/or if assistance with disposal is desired.
• Disposal of Non-Chemicals. Non-chemical supplies can also be discarded with household garbage, but should first be wrapped in newspaper or waste paper. Place such items in a securely covered trash container that will prevent children and animals from accessing the contents.
• Keep or Discard the Rest. Many students choose to keep the durable science equipment included with their Lab Kit as most of these items may have future utility or be used for future science exploration.
• However, take care to store any dangerous items, especially breakable glass, out of the reach of children.

LAB REPORT

A lab report is required for each lab. In some cases, a lab report template is included with the lab and student need only fill in the blanks and submit that lab report. In other cases, the student will need to compose his or her own lab report. For lab reports the following is expected:

• Each student is to submit a separate lab report, even if students work on the lab in groups.
• Necessary information required at the top of the first page of the lab report:
  o the student’s name and (when applicable) the name of partner(s);
  o the name of the lab and the date the lab was performed; and
  o the date and time that the lab report was submitted.
• When graphs, photographs, and/or sketches are generated in the lab, those are to be included in the lab report document.
• When the lab includes questions, the lab report must not only include the student’s answer to each question (in full sentences in the student’s own words), but also each question should be included along with the number of the question (as given in the lab manual).
• At the end of the lab report in a section labeled ‘Lesson’, the student is to summarize what he/she learned (or was supposed to learn) in that particular lab. An example format is shown below:

LAB REPORT FOR INSECT IDENTIFICATION LAB

Name: Joe Schmough Partners: Mary O. Reelee and Ewe R. Kidding
Lab Date: 1 April 2050 Submission Date: 8 April 2050, 1:00 p.m.

LAB QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

1. How many different fly species, how many different beetle species, and how many different butterfly species did you count?
   Answer: I counted 24 fly species, 72 beetle species, and 21 butterfly species.
2. Compare and contrast the wings of the specimens.
   Answer: All the specimens had wings, but they differed on the number and type of wings. All the flies had only had one pair of transparent wings; all the beetles had one pair of transparent wings and one pair of hard coverings over them; and all the butterflies had four opaque wings.
3. What are the order designations of the specimens?
   Answer: The flies are in the order Diptera. The beetles are in the order Coleoptera. The butterflies are in the order Lepidoptera.

LESSON

The three most diverse insect orders are rather easily identified by the nature of their wings. Insects with two wings are in the order Diptera (flies). Insects with four opaque wings are in the order Lepidoptera (butterflies and moths). Insects with transparent wings under a hard covering are in the order Coleoptera (beetles).