GCSE Biology

required practical resources

Re-think & revise…

OSMOSIS

© Exampro 2018 – NB This document may have been edited and can only be used in your school.
Re-think & revise…
Osmosis – Investigate the effect of a range of concentrations
of salt or sugar solutions on the mass of plant tissue.
The apparatus and techniques involved in this include…
use of appropriate apparatus to measure and record a range of measurements
AT1 accurately including length, mass and volume of liquid
use of appropriate apparatus and techniques for the observation and
AT3 measurement of biological changes and/or processes
measurement of rate of reaction by a variety of methods including an uptake of
AT5 water

See ‘Notes’ section on every slide for guidance on the required Working Scientifically skills

© Exampro 2018 – NB This document may have been edited and can only be used in your school.
What is it? What is it for?

5 cylinders of
potato (size and In general, what is this practical about?
mass measured)

What is the independent variable? What is a sensible hypothesis

here…?
What is the dependent variable? • What would you predict
might happen?
Why is there a test tube without any sugar • Why do you make that
solution at all, and just distilled water? prediction?

© Exampro 2018 – NB This document may have been edited and can only be used in your school.
What do you do with it?
1.0 0.75 0.5 0.25 Distilled
mol/ mol/ mol/ mol/ water
How do you take measurements? What do you
dm3 dm3 dm3 dm3
do? sugar sugar sugar sugar
solution solution solution solution

What do you need to record in order to Initial mass

calculate a change in mass or length?

Final mass

Change in mass

Why should you calculate a percentage Percentage

change in mass and length? change in mass

Initial length

Final length

How do you calculate a percentage change? Change in length

Percentage
change in length

percentage = change x 100

change initial

How do you try and control the variables to make this a fair test…?
• Why are the potato pieces peeled first?
• Why are the potato cylinders measured for their size and mass?
• Why should you dry off any surface water before measuring the mass?
• Why use distilled water, and not just tap water, for the ‘no sugar’ reading?

© Exampro 2018 – NB This document may have been edited and can only be used in your school.
What do you learn? What if…? What else…?

From memory, describe the steps in the method

used, and explain why each step is needed. Describe the pattern in the data in this
graph.
Use as few sentences as possible.
Explain why the data has this pattern.

What is happening when the line

crosses the X axis?

percentage
change in Why might it be a good idea to take
mass 0.5 0.75
0.25 1.0
sugar solution more measurements at concentrations
concentration between 0.25 mol/dm3 and
in mol dm-3
0.5 mol/dm3?

Suggest some difficulties with

increasing the rate of sampling like
this.

Why is a potato a model for a How else could you do a practical like this?
cell? What do they have in • What other plants could be suitable for this?
common? • What other solutions could be suitable for this?

© Exampro 2018 – NB This document may have been edited and can only be used in your school.
Additional teacher guidance to this required practical
interactive slideshow
Use these slides
• when you want students to RE-THINK a required practical – very soon after completing
it, to consolidate learning before moving on – as a plenary, or as a recap at the start of
subsequent lessons
• when you want students to REVISE a required practical – when preparing for test and
exam questions based on required practicals.
Do not use these slides before or during the running of a required practical; or as a
student’s self-teaching or revision tool used without the teacher being present.
 
Suggestions for emphasis – All have teacher guidance in the ‘Notes’ of each slide. This
includes suggestions for emphasis based on the ‘Apparatus and Techniques’ and the
‘Working Scientifically’ statements as identified in the specification.

Teachers’ pedagogical knowledge – It is assumed that teachers are already familiar with
the practicals, will read the ‘Notes’ on each slide in advance, and have the basic science
knowledge to be able to prompt and respond to students’ questions and answers.

Slide transitions reveal the student prompts in a specific order, although this can be
adapted. Slides can also be adapted to suit your pupils, and images changed to include
your school’s apparatus.
© Exampro 2018 – NB This document may have been edited and can only be used in your school.