IB Biology I
IB Biology I Summer Work
Name ___________________________
Date ____________________________
Welcome to IB Biology! During the first year of IB Biology, we will cover photosynthesis, botany, ecology and human
anatomy and physiology. Be prepared to get your hands dirty and hit the ground running!
In preparation for the start of this exciting, challenging and rewarding journey, please complete the following summer
work before the first day of school on Thursday August 30, 2012. The point value as well as an overview of each
assignment is shown below. You will lose 10 points for each day that the assignment is late (including weekends).
Task #1: Nature of science summer reading (50 points)
Please select and read one of the books below in its entirety. You only need to read ONE of the books (although I would
recommend all of them!)
 Tropical Nature: Life and Death in the Rain Forests of Central and South America by Adrian Forsyth and Ken
Miyata
 Parasite Rex: Inside the Bizarre World of Nature’s Most Dangerous Creatures by Carl Zimmer
 The Devil’s Teeth: A Story of Obsession and Survival Among America’s Great White Sharks by Susan Casey
 For the Love of Insects by Thomas Eisner
After reading your book, please respond to the following questions in 2-3 pages:
1. Write a brief summary (1 paragraph) of the book.
2. What do you think were the “big ideas” of the book? Write 1 paragraph describing each big idea and using
SPECIFIC examples from the book to support your thinking. (3 paragraphs total)
3. What did you take away from this book about the nature of science? How did it affect your view of how
“scientists do science”? Again use specific examples from the book! (1 paragraph)
Be prepared to share with the class during the first week of school!
Task #2: Design Lab Prep and Practice (40 points)
The first topics we will jump into are photosynthesis and experimental design. One of the requirements of IB Biology is
to design your own experiment, collect and analyze data, and draw conclusions. We call these “design labs”. Your
second task this summer is to research and review experimental design to prepare for your first practice design lab. Your
experiment in the fall will investigate the effect of one factor on the rate of photosynthesis in radish plants.
Please complete the next 5 pages in their entirety.
Please email me with any questions at twohig.me@easthartford.org. I will be checking my email throughout the summer
and I will get back to you as soon as possible. I look forward to exploring IB Biology with you in the fall. Enjoy your
summer and come ready to DO science!
Cheers,
Ms. Twohig
Part 1: Photosynthesis Background Research
Background research, using books and/or appropriate (science-based) websites,
is essential to answering scientific questions or problems, similar to what you
will be doing for your first design lab.
Keep in mind that you will need to keep track of where you found this
information to answer the questions below. Write the source in parentheses ( )
at the end of your response for each question. You should record information
like the name of the author, the name of the book/journal/website, the publisher, website address, etc. We will
revisit how to cite resources in Part 2.
1. What types of organisms can perform photosynthesis?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
2. Identify the reactants (what goes in) and the products (what comes out) of photosynthesis.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
3. Where do green plants obtain each of the reactants from (i.e. the air, the soil, etc)?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
4. Describe where photosynthesis occurs in green plants.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
5. What is the role of pigments (such as chlorophyll) in photosynthesis?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
6. Sunlight contains all the wavelengths of visible light. Describe the wavelengths (in nanometers) and colors contained
in the visible light spectrum.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
7. How is the visible light spectrum related to the different pigments found in green plants?
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Part 2: Resources
Wikipedia, Google and other search engines are NOT acceptable resources. You may use
these websites to help you find other websites that are acceptable resources.
Why do you think search engines are not acceptable resources?
What characteristics do you think acceptable resources have? List three.
In the space below, list 5 websites where you found information on photosynthesis.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Part 3: Scientific Design and Analysis
In the fall you will decide what question you want to investigate. You will need to identify the different elements or parts
of your experiment.
Sample experiment:
Jocelyn is fascinated by sea monkeys, which are actually tiny aquatic crustaceans called Daphnia. Jocelyn read that
Daphnia are very sensitive to changes in the environment and are often used to test the effects of toxins on an
ecosystem. As the concentration of toxins increases, the survival rate of Daphnia tends to decrease. She decides to test
the effect of bleach on the survival rate of Daphnia.
In her experiment, Jocelyn placed Daphnia in 5 identical petri dishes with different concentrations of water and bleach.
Each petri dish had 20 Daphnia at the beginning of the experiment. She filled each petri dish with the same volume of
liquid and all dishes were kept at 3°C (37°F).
Dish #1 had only distilled water.
Dish #2 had 0.5% bleach solution.
Dish #3 had 1% bleach solution.
Dish #4 had 2% bleach solution.
Dish #5 had 4% bleach solution.
She examined the petri dish under a microscope and recorded the number of Daphnia alive every 2 minutes for 30
minutes. She recorded her data in the table below.
Table 1: The Effect of Bleach on the Survival Rate of Daphnia
Time
Dish #1 (distilled Dish #2 (0.5%
Dish #3 (1%
Dish #4 (2%
Dish #5 (4%
(minutes) water)
bleach)
bleach)
bleach)
bleach)
0
20
20
20
20
20
2
20
18
17
10
3
4
20
17
16
9
3
6
20
16
16
5
0
8
18
16
14
5
0
10
18
14
12
5
0
12
18
13
11
4
0
14
17
13
8
2
0
16
17
9
7
0
0
18
17
7
5
0
0
20
17
5
3
0
0
22
17
3
1
0
0
24
17
1
0
0
0
26
17
0
0
0
0
28
17
0
0
0
0
30
16
0
0
0
0
Average
survival
rate
Identify each part of Jocelyn’s experiment in the Experimental Design Diagram below.
Independent Variable (IV):
What condition did Jocelyn in the experiment or what condition was she trying to see the effect of?
Dependent Variable (DV):
What is Jocelyn measuring or what happens as a result of her independent variable?
Title: The Effect of [IV] on the [DV]
Hypothesis: If… then…. statement.
Write a sample hypothesis for Jocelyn’s experiment.
Control Group:
The control group is a comparison group or the group that does not receive the independent variable. What is
Jocelyn’s control group? Does she have one?
Repeated Trials:
How is Jocelyn performing repeated trials?
Constants: Include measurements where needed.
The independent variable is the only condition that should be changed. Everything else should remain constant.
What did Jocelyn keep the same in the experiment?
Use Jocelyn’s data to make a line graph below. Your graph should include:
 Title
 Labels for the x-axis and y-axis (including units)
 Legend/key
 Cover the entire grid and make sure lines are straight
On a separate sheet of paper (or typed), write a conclusion with at least 7 sentences that addresses each of the
following questions:
1. What was the original purpose of the experiment?
2. What was the original hypothesis?
3. What overall trend does the data show? (Summarize the data/results)
4. What is a possible explanation for the survival rate results? This explanation should be based on researched
facts- not guesses!
5. What are some possible errors in the experiment?
6. How could this experiment be improved? Refer specifically to the sources of error you identified!
7. What are some related future experiments that could be done?