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1: Labs

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  • Page ID
    222601
    • Sharbani Banerjee, Casey Barr, Joe Frantz, Melissa Graham, Tyler Wilson
    • Oxnard College

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    • 1.1: Lab Safety
      This page details critical laboratory safety guidelines for Oxnard College students, stressing the need for adherence to safety regulations and completion of a Safety Form before labs. It covers dress code, safety equipment awareness, emergency preparedness, conduct standards, and specific methods for managing equipment, hazardous materials, and waste. Students must also perform self-checks for illness before labs and ensure workspace cleanliness and organization.
    • 1.2: Scientific Method
      This page details a lab experiment focused on studying pill bugs' habitat preferences using the scientific method. Students will hypothesize, conduct controlled experiments in dry and moist environments, collect and analyze data, and visualize results through graphs. Key objectives include developing hypotheses, designing reliable experiments, and interpreting outcomes based on collected data.
    • 1.3: Metric Measurements
      This page emphasizes the significance of measurement in science, particularly the Metric System's base-10 structure for easy conversions. It covers categories like length, mass, volume, density, and temperature, detailing distinctions between mass and weight, and methods such as water displacement for volume. Temperature scales are compared, highlighting the Celsius and Fahrenheit systems along with their conversion formulas.
    • 1.4: Microscopy
      This page provides a comprehensive overview of microscopy, focusing on compound light and stereoscopic dissecting microscopes. It covers safe handling and maintenance, operational procedures, and specific activities for observing and preparing specimens, including wet mounts. Key concepts such as magnification, depth of field, and field of view are explained, along with instructions for labeling microscope parts and identifying cellular structures.
    • 1.5: Cell Biology
      This page covers cell biology, focusing on prokaryotic and eukaryotic cells. Prokaryotes are simple cells without membrane-bound organelles, characterized by circular DNA, flagella, and pili. Eukaryotic cells are more complex, featuring organelles and differences between plant and animal cells. The section on protists highlights their diversity in locomotion and nutrition, categorizing them into heterotrophs and autotrophs, with examples like Amoeba and Euglena.
    • 1.6: Diffusion and Osmosis
      This page covers a lab dedicated to diffusion and osmosis, emphasizing the movement of molecules through selectively permeable membranes and the effects of tonicity on cells. Students engage in experiments with agar plates, dialysis tubing, and various cell types, measuring weight changes and observing cellular responses in different solutions. Key concepts include isotonic, hypertonic, and hypotonic conditions, and the significance of cell membrane functions.
    • 1.7: Enzyme Function
      This page explores chemical reactions in living cells, emphasizing synthesis, decomposition, and exchange reactions, with a focus on enzymes as catalysts that lower activation energy. It details enzyme specificity, active site function, and the influence of temperature and pH. Practical exercises using catalase, including experiments with raw and cooked liver, illustrate factors affecting enzyme activity and optimal conditions.
    • 1.8: Cellular Respiration and Photosynthesis
      This page covers cellular respiration, explaining its three stages: glycolysis, the citric acid cycle, and the electron transport chain, along with fermentation as an anaerobic ATP production method. It includes an experiment to investigate physical activity's effect on respiration rates. Additionally, it presents experiments on photosynthesis using Elodea and spinach leaves, focusing on CO2 consumption and chloroplast movement.
    • 1.9: Mitosis
      This page covers the cell cycle, detailing cell replication processes such as binary fission and mitosis, and illustrates the phases of the cell cycle—interphase and mitotic phase—along with practical microscopy exercises. Additionally, it provides a lab guide for modeling mitosis, where students calculate timing and simulate chromosomal phases using pop beads, while emphasizing collaboration and proper terminology, supported by licensing information for educational resources.
    • 1.10: Meiosis and Gametogenesis
      This page explains meiosis, comparing it to mitosis, which produces identical cells for growth. Meiosis generates haploid gametes essential for sexual reproduction and introduces genetic variation. The accompanying laboratory simulation uses chromosome beads to demonstrate independent assortment and crossing over, while observing meiosis in lily anthers further illustrates gametogenesis in flowering plants.
    • 1.11: Inheritance and Human Genetics
      This page provides an overview of genetic inheritance, starting with Mendel's foundational research on dominant and recessive alleles and his laws of inheritance. It discusses the application of Punnett squares and simulation exercises for one- and two-trait crosses. Blood typing and genetics, including the ABO and Rh factor systems, are examined, alongside practical exercises for paternity testing.
    • 1.12: DNA Biology
      This page covers the structures and functions of DNA and RNA, detailing their differences and roles in cellular processes like transcription and translation. A practical DNA extraction activity using strawberries illustrates the steps to visualize DNA, including the use of ethanol and soap to break down cellular barriers. Clean-up instructions emphasize proper disposal and equipment maintenance.
    • 1.13: Evolution
      This page covers the concept of evolution, highlighting how diversity arises through gradual changes and mechanisms such as natural selection and mutation. It distinguishes between macroevolution and microevolution, illustrated through a lab exercise on bluebird beak shapes. The page also presents extensive evidence for evolution from fossils, anatomical similarities, and embryonic development, including gill slits in vertebrates.
    • 1.14: Ecology
      This page describes a lab activity on plastic pollution divided into two parts. First, students track their daily plastic use by identifying single-use items. Next, they analyze beach sand samples for both natural and human-made materials, focusing on plastics using buoyancy techniques. The page promotes community action, education, and sustainable shopping to reduce plastic usage.

    This page titled 1: Labs was last modified on Sat, 31 Oct 2026 00:05:38 GMT and is shared under a CC BY 4.0 license and was authored, remixed, and/or curated by Sharbani Banerjee, Casey Barr, Joe Frantz, Melissa Graham, Tyler Wilson.