studying Posted January 7, 2017 Report Share Posted January 7, 2017 I'm currently writing my biology IA and I have no idea why but the thing that's worrying me the most is that my topic is too simple. It's on the activity of lactase on lactose affected by temperature, and I'm scared that enzymes are over done or it's too simple and the analysis is too obvious. It also doesn't help that all of the biology IAs IB provides on their website are all really complicated- like I don't understand how people came up with those ideas on their own! If your an ib graduate and you wrote a biology IA, can you PLEASE tell me what your research question was and what grade you got for your IA if you know? I just really want to make sure I won't fail my IA because the topic is too simple. Also if you wrote a chemistry, physics, etc. IA, you should leave the research question here as well for others! Thank you so much in advance! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
licia Posted January 7, 2017 Report Share Posted January 7, 2017 Do you take biology SL or HL? I take SL, but my teacher told us to keep it simple. I grew sunflowers and wrote mine on how water affected the growth of sunflower seeds. I don't think you have to make things complicated.. Although, I don't take biology HL 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
studying Posted January 7, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 7, 2017 7 hours ago, licia said: Do you take biology SL or HL? I take SL, but my teacher told us to keep it simple. I grew sunflowers and wrote mine on how water affected the growth of sunflower seeds. I don't think you have to make things complicated.. Although, I don't take biology HL I take HL, but I'm pretty sure the criteria for the IAs are all the same- the only thing that's different is the weighting for SL and HL Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNintendoChip Posted January 8, 2017 Report Share Posted January 8, 2017 Ahh I can actually help you with this! I did my Bio IA (HL) on the effect of changing the concentration of enzyme on enzyme activity. I used yeast (catalase) and measured the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide using an O2 sensor. I did 5 different concentrations, measured the O2 concentration (in ppm) and tabulated all the data. I then standardized it (took each data point, subtracted the mean, divide by standard deviation. I gave the formulas for calculating the mean, standard deviation, and standardization and then gave sample calculations). I then calculated the rate of reaction by subtracting the initial O2 concentration from the final one, and dividing by the time interval [This is just how you calculate slope normally. y is O2 concentration, x is time]. Enzyme activity tends to be 0 order (or linear) at high substrate concentrations, so that's allowed. I then plotted these rates against the enzyme concentration, and that produced a graph that confirmed my hypothesis (rate increases w/increasing enzyme concentration). Other things I talked about: Things that went wrong (including how I wanted to vary pH at first, but that didn't work), sources of error and how they affected my data, uncertainty and how I had high uncertainty in measuring the concentrations of diluted enzyme, etc. Explaining what you're doing and why will add a lot of material to your paper. I got a 23/24. My IA was chosen by IB to be scored, and that was the grade they gave me. I hope that helped, and good luck! 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
VeronicaG Posted January 8, 2017 Report Share Posted January 8, 2017 My Bio IA was easily one of my favourite IAs (tied with my Chem IA). I grew wheatgrass in soil and in an aquaponics system and compared growth rate, percent yield, water intake, and about 7 other factors. Easy set-up, easy procedure and really easy analysis. Got a high 7 and I was allowed to keep the fish in the end! 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
studying Posted January 10, 2017 Author Report Share Posted January 10, 2017 (edited) On 1/8/2017 at 11:15 AM, TheNintendoChip said: Ahh I can actually help you with this! I did my Bio IA (HL) on the effect of changing the concentration of enzyme on enzyme activity. I used yeast (catalase) and measured the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide using an O2 sensor. I did 5 different concentrations, measured the O2 concentration (in ppm) and tabulated all the data. I then standardized it (took each data point, subtracted the mean, divide by standard deviation. I gave the formulas for calculating the mean, standard deviation, and standardization and then gave sample calculations). I then calculated the rate of reaction by subtracting the initial O2 concentration from the final one, and dividing by the time interval [This is just how you calculate slope normally. y is O2 concentration, x is time]. Enzyme activity tends to be 0 order (or linear) at high substrate concentrations, so that's allowed. I then plotted these rates against the enzyme concentration, and that produced a graph that confirmed my hypothesis (rate increases w/increasing enzyme concentration). Other things I talked about: Things that went wrong (including how I wanted to vary pH at first, but that didn't work), sources of error and how they affected my data, uncertainty and how I had high uncertainty in measuring the concentrations of diluted enzyme, etc. Explaining what you're doing and why will add a lot of material to your paper. I got a 23/24. My IA was chosen by IB to be scored, and that was the grade they gave me. I hope that helped, and good luck! Thank you so much!! This is super helpful and now I totally have a better idea of what I'm doing How many trials in total did you do and did you have a control group? Edited January 10, 2017 by studying Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheNintendoChip Posted January 10, 2017 Report Share Posted January 10, 2017 39 minutes ago, studying said: Thank you so much!! This is super helpful and now I totally have a better idea of what I'm doing How many trials in total did you do and did you have a control group? 5 trials for each of 5 concentrations. I totally forgot to do a control group lol, but I would just have it as testing enzyme activity w/o any enzyme. 1 Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
heehoohaa Posted September 9, 2021 Report Share Posted September 9, 2021 On 1/8/2017 at 1:29 PM, VeronicaG said: My Bio IA was easily one of my favourite IAs (tied with my Chem IA). I grew wheatgrass in soil and in an aquaponics system and compared growth rate, percent yield, water intake, and about 7 other factors. Easy set-up, easy procedure and really easy analysis. Got a high 7 and I was allowed to keep the fish in the end! what factors did you compare? also, what was your research question? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daksh19 Posted February 9, 2022 Report Share Posted February 9, 2022 On 1/8/2017 at 11:45 PM, TheNintendoChip said: Ahh I can actually help you with this! I did my Bio IA (HL) on the effect of changing the concentration of enzyme on enzyme activity. I used yeast (catalase) and measured the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide using an O2 sensor. I did 5 different concentrations, measured the O2 concentration (in ppm) and tabulated all the data. I then standardized it (took each data point, subtracted the mean, divide by standard deviation. I gave the formulas for calculating the mean, standard deviation, and standardization and then gave sample calculations). I then calculated the rate of reaction by subtracting the initial O2 concentration from the final one, and dividing by the time interval [This is just how you calculate slope normally. y is O2 concentration, x is time]. Enzyme activity tends to be 0 order (or linear) at high substrate concentrations, so that's allowed. I then plotted these rates against the enzyme concentration, and that produced a graph that confirmed my hypothesis (rate increases w/increasing enzyme concentration). Other things I talked about: Things that went wrong (including how I wanted to vary pH at first, but that didn't work), sources of error and how they affected my data, uncertainty and how I had high uncertainty in measuring the concentrations of diluted enzyme, etc. Explaining what you're doing and why will add a lot of material to your paper. I got a 23/24. My IA was chosen by IB to be scored, and that was the grade they gave me. I hope that helped, and good luck! Hey, this is extremely helpful!! Could you please send me your biology IA? It would be incredibly helpful. Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Daksh19 Posted February 9, 2022 Report Share Posted February 9, 2022 On 1/8/2017 at 11:45 PM, TheNintendoChip said: Ahh I can actually help you with this! I did my Bio IA (HL) on the effect of changing the concentration of enzyme on enzyme activity. I used yeast (catalase) and measured the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide using an O2 sensor. I did 5 different concentrations, measured the O2 concentration (in ppm) and tabulated all the data. I then standardized it (took each data point, subtracted the mean, divide by standard deviation. I gave the formulas for calculating the mean, standard deviation, and standardization and then gave sample calculations). I then calculated the rate of reaction by subtracting the initial O2 concentration from the final one, and dividing by the time interval [This is just how you calculate slope normally. y is O2 concentration, x is time]. Enzyme activity tends to be 0 order (or linear) at high substrate concentrations, so that's allowed. I then plotted these rates against the enzyme concentration, and that produced a graph that confirmed my hypothesis (rate increases w/increasing enzyme concentration). Other things I talked about: Things that went wrong (including how I wanted to vary pH at first, but that didn't work), sources of error and how they affected my data, uncertainty and how I had high uncertainty in measuring the concentrations of diluted enzyme, etc. Explaining what you're doing and why will add a lot of material to your paper. I got a 23/24. My IA was chosen by IB to be scored, and that was the grade they gave me. I hope that helped, and good luck! Is there any way I can contact you? Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dreamilyy Posted September 17, 2022 Report Share Posted September 17, 2022 On 1/9/2017 at 1:15 AM, TheNintendoChip said: Ahh I can actually help you with this! I did my Bio IA (HL) on the effect of changing the concentration of enzyme on enzyme activity. I used yeast (catalase) and measured the decomposition of hydrogen peroxide using an O2 sensor. I did 5 different concentrations, measured the O2 concentration (in ppm) and tabulated all the data. I then standardized it (took each data point, subtracted the mean, divide by standard deviation. I gave the formulas for calculating the mean, standard deviation, and standardization and then gave sample calculations). I then calculated the rate of reaction by subtracting the initial O2 concentration from the final one, and dividing by the time interval [This is just how you calculate slope normally. y is O2 concentration, x is time]. Enzyme activity tends to be 0 order (or linear) at high substrate concentrations, so that's allowed. I then plotted these rates against the enzyme concentration, and that produced a graph that confirmed my hypothesis (rate increases w/increasing enzyme concentration). Other things I talked about: Things that went wrong (including how I wanted to vary pH at first, but that didn't work), sources of error and how they affected my data, uncertainty and how I had high uncertainty in measuring the concentrations of diluted enzyme, etc. Explaining what you're doing and why will add a lot of material to your paper. I got a 23/24. My IA was chosen by IB to be scored, and that was the grade they gave me. I hope that helped, and good luck! hi! wow that sounds great :00 is it possible for me to see your ia as an examplar? thank you!! Reply Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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