help with Physarum Polycephalum experiment and research question

[lydiaw]

Hi! im currently a junior and in an HL/IB Biology course (a two year International Baccalaureate class) and i have an Internal Assessment for this quarter to complete. i ordered the Carolina Physarum kit and got it yesterday. im having trouble with formulating how to begin my experiment, and what things the IB graders would consider too confusing and have too many undefined variables in the experiment.

i guess i am most of all struggling with my independent and dependent variables in order to begin the experiment, and my overall research question. the maze, like in the example lab online, would most likely be too simple for the level i have to do, and i wouldn't know necessarily what to measure (unless you have any other suggestions).

could you suggest ways that i could use this in a controlled lab experiment while also adding a different variable? i was thinking of light exposure, or different types of foods, but again i don't really know how to measure those things.

thank you! any advice would be very useful.

Lydia

[AmyCowen]

Lydia - have you read the full background information and procedure for the project at Science Buddies? I would recommend first looking carefully at the procedure provided as you consider changes you want to make. There are also adaptations suggested on the "Make it Your Own" tab that may be helpful.

Background: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... background

Procedure: https://www.sciencebuddies.org/science- ... #procedure

Science Buddies is a resource for K-12 student science projects.

Amy
Science Buddies