Follow these guidelines for laying out your planning exercise and you will maximise your chances of a top mark…

Prior knowledge check:

1) Your first Biology investigation will be a PLAN.

e.g. 'What is the effect of exercise on heart-rate?'

2) Your Second Investigation after Xmas will  be about ENZYMES, particularly one called CATALASE ... if you are doing 'Double award' (10.1, 10.2, 10.3) you will NOT need to do a plan for this - yesss!

3) If you are in 10.4 or 10.5....hardluck! You WILL need to do a plan for this one too!

10.4, 10.5 students: see the links page for ideas. You should be aiming to write about the points in the list below:

 Now for the WRITE - UP!!

PLANNING FIRST:

1) Introduction    

Make sure this shows good ‘Higher’ level  knowledge that you  have drawn from a variety of sources.

Use diagrams or graphs if necessary, and always acknowledge your references or secondary sources.

This means quoting the author’s surname and the date it was written. e.g.  (Moody page 223 'Exercise Physiology' 2003),

or the website you visited e.g.. www.allaboutexercise.com.

 At the end of the plan you can alphabetically list the references in more detail.

N.B. You will should aim to use and evaluate at least 2 good references to get top marks.

The introduction should link strongly to what you are trying to study (i.e. don’t waffle!) and it should develop the problem you have been set - eg what happens to the heart during the first few minutes of exercise? Why does this happen?

For 10.4 and 10.5 doing the Enzyme Planning:

INFO: You must mention CATALASE and the reaction it performs with Hydrogen Peroxide. (Give the equation...)

ERROR: Common errors here are to say something daft like 'yeast is catalase' (instead of 'yeast contains catalase enzyme') or that 'yeast catalyses the breakdown of H₂O₂' ( instead of 'catalase catalyses the breakdown of H₂O₂  ')

FACT: Yeast is a type of fungus - the cells of yeast contain lots of different enzymes, just one of which is catalase. It is this enzyme which breaks down hydrogen peroxide to water and oxygen.

You must show that you understand this principle.

2) Hypothesis        Should be testable and quantitative (i.e. include figures).   It should also have a ‘because’ statement to justify your prediction.

E.g.. “I predict that as the temperature of the solution rises by 10^oC, the rate of enzyme catalysed activity will double, up to an optimum of about 40^oC. This is because…(go on to mention kinetic energy, enzyme stability, denaturation etc)”

                                    A ‘null hypothesis’ is also acceptable.

e.g " I predict that after 1 minute of mild exercise there will be no increase in my heart rate. I think this because..."

Give a 'prediction graph'?

3) Variables:

a) Independent Variable

The condition in the investigation you intend to alter and its range of values. You need at least 5 points so you can plot a reasonable graph later.

E.g. “ I will vary the concentration of hydrogen peroxide used from x% down to y%, in z% increments"

(This gives  me ____ points…plenty for plotting on a graph)  

ERROR: The most common errors here are not explaining WHY you need to keep things constant, and not thinking of enough controls to make it a fair test.

4) Pilot Study                  

                             Carrying out a preliminary study will allow you to demonstrate that you can modify things in the light of experience.

So show your pilot study method and results here, and then go on to say what worked well, and what didn’t, and how you plan to modify the ‘actual’ method.

ERROR: The most common errors here are not putting in the pilot results, or not explaining how they led to your 'final' method.

5) Method                       

                            Again, bullet points work best, and the method should be clearly set out and easy to follow – don’t try to write continuous prose. As a test, give your method to someone else to read through – they should be able to carry out this practical without having to ask any questions.

Don’t forget to:

 a) put in at least 3 repeat readings to make results statistically valid

                              b) justify (explain) why you are doing each step.

ERROR: Failure to ‘justify’ is one of the main reasons why plans fail to score high marks.

6) Apparatus list             

                            This is the list of apparatus, along with any diagrams of the set up. You must include quantities, volumes, concentrations etc.

e.g. “I will need 50cm³ of 10% hydrogen peroxide.”

Don’t forget to justify (there’s that word again!) why you need this apparatus if you haven’t already done this in the method.

ERROR: The most common error here is not putting in quantities or concentrations of hydrogen peroxide or yeast solution.

7) Safety                         

                            This is a safety audit / list that takes account of the need for safe working. There’s more to this than just “wear goggles and lab-coats”!

8) Treatment of results

Perhaps a sketch graph of expected results, or how you would perform any calculations. You could also ‘wrap things up’ here by justifying the strategy you developed, and how it should answer the question you were originally set.