Collecting data fast and slow: Learning basic data skills with cellular respiration experiments

    

Linda Forrester and Haley Leclerc

Advances in Biology Laboratory Education, 2025, Volume 45

https://doi.org/10.37590/able.v45.art10

Supplemental Materials: https://doi.org/10.37590/able.v45.sup10

Abstract

Modern undergraduate lab exercises focus on helping undergraduate students build basic skills in experimental design, data collection, data analysis, and data presentation. This lab exercise provides an accessible, hands-on approach for students to investigate cellular respiration, using yeast as a study organism. Students design and conduct replicate experiments to measure CO2 production as yeast consumes sugar, using both slow (measuring bubble volume) and fast (quantifying CO2 concentration with probes) data collection methods. Data from both approaches is used by students to explore factors affecting respiration rates, analyze experimental data, and practice data presentation skills. The exercise emphasizes hypothesis formation, experimental design, and scientific communication, offering a creative and cost-effective way to engage students in authentic scientific inquiry.

Keywords:  Cell respiration, data collection, data presentation

University of Maryland (2024)