Biology+Bean+Lab

Introduction
The Biology Bean Lab was designed to introduce skills of classification and lead into the classification of all living things. Students had to group together beans based on certain characteristics and examine why they were grouped that way. Qualitative and quantitative observations were noted for each group of beans. Lastly, the lengths and masses of each of the bean groups were compared in a graph to see the relation, if any, between the two.

Lab
[|Biology Bean Lab - Tracey Zhang.pdf] In this lab we had to group beans into different categories based on qualitative aspects (color, texture, etc.) and quantitative aspects (length and mass). Afterwards, each of these observations are recorded. Finally, we graphed the relation between the length and mass of the different bean groups in a graph.

Reflection
Positive: This lab went well, although not without some complications. Overall, I felt pretty confident with this lab because our group was very meticulous at calculating the lengths and masses of each of the bean groups. We placed all the beans in a row, found the length, and divided by the number present to find the average length. The same was done for the mass, but using a triple beam balance. Negative: The negative part of this lab was that our group took an extremely long time to group all the beans and calculate the masses and lengths. From this lab, I learned the importance of observing, comparing, and contrasting in science, especially for classification. What we learned: We also learned the basics of using a triple beam balance, a ruler, and calculating averages. Difficulty: Since this was one of the earlier labs, it was not as difficult as some of the later labs. For me, the hardest part of the lab was deciding how to group the beans together. There were some beans that I felt was really similar, but we ultimately ended up splitting them. Gone better: If I could redo this lab, I would most like to improve on our efficiency. We spent too much time trying to decide how to categorize the beans that most of the other groups finished before us (we ended up staying after class).