Lab Equipment/Supplies for AP Labs 1-13 Alternatives Suggested by K. Davis
Remember that you are required to spend 25% class time on lab investigations, students are
required to show evidence of labs recorded, a MINIMUM of 2 labs/Big Idea. The labs should
include some level of inquiry and rigor/expectations should NOT be reduced, even if using these
lab alternatives.
Suggested lab report: Final Lab Report Using All 6 Science Practices
AP Lab 1 – Artificial Selection Link to Lab 1 Document in Drive
● 1 gallon planting pots 2/group
● potting soil (enough for almost 2 gallons/group)
● wooden splints
● permanent markers
● grow light source or window
● 100 mung beans/group
● 1 egg carton/group marked with bin sizes
AP Lab 2 – Hardy Weinberg. Link to Lab 2 Document in Drive
Link to Online Simulation Activity
AP Lab 3 – BLAST. Link to Lab 3 Document in Drive
Link to Student Gene Sequences
Link to Teacher Answer Key to Gene Sequences
Link to Building DNA, mRNA and AA sequences using crayons
● multi-colored pony beads – colors aligned with GCTA and all 20 amino acids (24 colors
minimum). Each student group will need 100 for DNA and 33 for amino acids. Have
many of each color as you will not know in advance how many of each color your
student groups will need! You will need a lot more of the 4 bead colors for the CGTA
than you will for the AA. Adjust the colors on the student document to match the colors
of beads that you purchase
● ~3 feet of hardware electrical wire/group 3.31 mm (green coated copper– mine says 12
green 600 volt)
AP Lab 4 – Diffusion and Osmosis Link to Lab 4 Document in Drive
Link to Teacher Instructions
● Clear deco cubes (not spheres) 3/group
● plastic cups or beakers to hold 250mL 3/group
● 10mL and 100mL graduated cylinders 1 each/group
● balances
● metric rulers
● purple (red) cabbage
● cheese cloth or strainer
● funnel
Labs and materials as compiled by Karen Davis, AP Biology Consultant
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blender or drink immersion blender
plastic knife
white potato 1/group
1 other root vegetable 1/group Provide 6 different types of root vegetables and have
each group select different vegetables from the following: carrots, radishes, jicama,
beets, parsnips, turnips, red potato, sweet potato
scalpels or plastic knives
cork borers or apple corers, or food chopper that can be shared
beakers or cups (I prefer 2 oz condiment cups with lids. They will hold 40mL of solution
with vegetable cores)
Sucrose 342.3 g/1 liter of initial stock solution
food color
Celsius thermometer 1/group
Vinegar (~400mL/group) I prefer 9% if I can get it!
AP Lab 5 – Photosynthesis. Link to Bio-Rad Photosynthesis/Cellular Respiration Student Guide
Link to Bio-Rad Photosynthesis/Cellular Respiration With Algae Beads Instructor Guide
● Bio-Rad Kit THINQ Photosynthesis and Cellular Respiration Kit or refill kit (purchased)
● Aluminum foil
● Spectrophotometer (optional – you may also use the indicator cards for visual color
data or a cell phone app such as color picker for quantifiable data)
● light source (preferably LED)
● scissors for cutting pipettes into scoops
● beaker/cups for waste containers 1/group
● graduated cylinders 100mL
● distilled water
● permanent markers
● beaker/cup for acclimating indicator solution – only 1/class
o Inquiry portion of lab (some suggestions)
o colored markers
o ice bath
o warm water bath
o thermometer
o small aquatic snails
OR: Floating Disk Assay for Photosynthesis Link to Floating Disk Assay for Photosynthesis
● Sodium bicarbonate (Baking soda)
● Liquid Soap
● Plastic syringe (10 cc or larger)
● Leaf material (I like to include live plants that students can remove a leaf or two from. I
intentionally choose plants that come in different color varietals such as coleus)
● Hole punch 1/group
● Plastic cups 2-3/group
● Timer
● Light source
Labs and materials as compiled by Karen Davis, AP Biology Consultant
AP Lab 6 – Cellular Respiration Link to Guided Inquiry Cellular Respiration
● 2 (or more) equal size Syringes (30-60mL work well, no needles)
● seeds (germinating and non)
● small insects (crickets, superworms, mealworms, caterpillars)
● mushrooms
● KOH in dropper bottle
● non-absorbent cotton (rayon fill works well for this)
● absorbent cotton balls
● aquarium tubing (~30 cm per set up)
● 1 mL serological pipettes
● food color
● balance
AP Lab 7 - Mitosis and Meiosis Link to AP Lab 7 – Onion Mitosis
● 250 mL beakers (up to three per group)
● wooden splints
● rubber bands
● bunch of green onions (5-6 onions/group)
● 100 mL graduated cylinders
● scalpel or razor blade
● metric ruler
● Parafilm or cellophane wrap
(Suggested materials that may affect mitosis:)
o caffeine: solutions can range from .17M to 1M,
o coffee
o energy drink
o various plant fertilizers (follow instructions for dilution)
o root stimulator
o willow bark tea (steep willow bark from weeping willow tree in hot water, then
let cool before use) highly suggested to use for its surprising results
● For Meiosis portion of the Lab – purchase or print out cards with the Sordaria crosses for
students to use rather than creating their own slides
AP Lab 8 – Bacterial Transformation
Depending on your level and your students’ level of experience with lab protocols, I would
recommend either of these two labs for Bacterial Transformation:
Link to pGlo Lab (purchased from Bio-Rad) This link sends you to the protocol for pGlo
transformation standard lab. I would recommend using the pGlo lab for General Biology that
has the newer protocol.
Link to pGlo Slide Deck - use for modeling also
Link to Out of the Blue CRISPR lab (purchased from Bio-Rad)
With either of these lab kits, in addition you will need:
● microwave
Labs and materials as compiled by Karen Davis, AP Biology Consultant
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water bath (Sous-vide with Styrofoam cooler is what I use!)
ice
cups or beakers
bleach
bacterial incubator (I use an Instant Pot on Yogurt setting)
thermometer
Erlenmeyer flasks
Graduated cylinders
Permanent markers
AP Lab 9 – Electrophoresis Link to Huntington’s Genetics Lab Folder
● MiniOne lab reagents for Huntington’s Genetics
● Electrophoresis chambers (1/group)
● Electrophoresis power source (need depends on type of electrophoresis chambers)
● distilled water
● microwave
● 250 mL beakers (1/group)
● 2 – 20 µL pipettes and tips
AP Lab 10 – Energy Dynamics I really don’t have a good replacement for this one but instead,
my second big lab for the Ecology topic is the Bean/Pasta Diversity Index Lab below
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NEW Lab – no correlation in Investigative Laboratory Investigations Resource
Bean/Pasta Diversity Index
Teacher Instructions for Bean/Pasta Diversity Index
AP Lab 11 – Transpiration Link to Whole Plant Transpiration Lab
● Various types of plants with leaves that “snap” (i.e. wandering jew, purple heart,
begonia, basket plant)
● dropper pipette
● water
● glass slides/coverslips (at least 1/group)
● compound microscope
● clear ruler
● multiple of the same type of plant (at least 1/group) – suggestion: bell peppers, beans
● balance 1/group
● rubber bands
● zipper bags or cellophane
● fan
● light
● large zipper bag
● spray bottle of water
● 1 cm square graph paper
Labs and materials as compiled by Karen Davis, AP Biology Consultant
AP Lab 12 – Animal Behavior this lab is very similar to the one in the Investigative Laboratory
Investigations Lab Manual – except I have different type and sizes of choice chambers available
Link to Lab directions (very vague intentionally)
● different types of small animals (pillbugs, mealworms, super worms, crickets, guppies,
goldfish, …)
● students can decide if their stimulus will include possible food source, light, color, temp.
● choice chambers, either created from water bottles or purchased
AP Lab 13 – Environmental Effects on Enzymes Link to minipcrbio p51 enzyme lab Student
Link to minipcrbio p51 Enzyme Lab Instructor, Link to minipcrbio p51 Enzyme Lab Slides
● p51 viewer
● ice
● 2 – 20 µL pipettes and tips
● minipcrbio BetaGal Glo Lab components (ordered from minipcr)
Alternatives to the minipcrbio Enzymes labs are found in the drive folder at the following link:
AP Lab 13 – Enzyme Regulation
Labs and materials as compiled by Karen Davis, AP Biology Consultant