Biology practicals apparatus set-up guides

We’ve worked with experienced teachers and technicians, as well as higher education institutions and learned societies to produce these apparatus set-up guides for each of the required practical activities.

Practicals are at the heart of our new AS and A-level Biology specifications – so it’s important to get them right first time in the lab.

Required activities

You need to cover activities 1–6 for AS and 1–12 for A-level.

Practical 1

Investigation into the effect of a named variable on the rate of an enzyme-controlled reaction.

Practical 1 set-up guide

Practical 2

Preparation of stained squashes of cells from plant root tips; set-up and use of an optical microscope to identify the stages of mitosis in these stained squashes and calculation of a mitotic index.

Practical 2 set-up guide

Practical 3

Production of a dilution series of a solute to produce acalibration curve with which to identify the water potential of plant tissue.

Practical 3 set-up guide

Practical 4

Investigation into the effect of a named variable on the permeability of cell-surface membranes.

Practical 4 set-up guide

Practical 5

Dissection of animal or plant gas exchange or mass transport system or of organ within such a system.

Practical 5 set-up guide

Practical 6

Use of aseptic techniques to investigate the effect of antimicrobial substances on microbial growth.

Practical 6 set-up guide

Practical 7

Use of chromatography to investigate the pigments isolated from leaves of different plants, eg leaves from shade-tolerant and shade-intolerant plants or leaves of different colours.

Practical 7 set-up guide

Practical 8

Investigation into the effect of a named factor on the rate of dehydrogenase activity in extracts of chloroplasts.

Practical 8 set-up guide

Practical 9

Investigation into the effect of a named variable on the rate of respiration of cultures of single-celled organisms.

Practical 9 set-up guide

Practical 10

Investigation into the effect of an environmental variable on the movement of an animal using either a choice chamber or a maze.

Practical 10 set-up guide

Practical 11

Production of a dilution series of a glucose solution and use of colorimetric techniques to produce a calibration curve with which to identify the concentration of glucose in an unknown 'urine' sample.

Practical 11 set-up guide

Practical 12

Investigation into the effect of a named environmental factor on the distribution of a given species.

Practical 12 set-up guide