Students in AP Biology at Hockinson High School recently turned their classroom into a working lab to study the process of photosynthesis. Using baking soda, spinach leaves, CO2 and water, they measured how quickly oxygen bubbles caused spinach disks to rise to the surface of a cup. The faster the leaves floated, the faster photosynthesis occurred.
“Hands-on labs like this help students connect what they’re learning to real scientific processes,” said AP Biology teacher Belynda Lee-Jensen. “It’s one thing to read about photosynthesis, but when students can see and measure it themselves, the concept comes alive.”
Through hands-on experiments like this, students are learning more than biology concepts. They are developing scientific thinking and technical skills that prepare them with the skills needed to become the scientists, doctors, lab technicians, and researchers of the future.