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Osmosis: Determination of the rate of osmosis and the isotonic concentration

Author(s): Julie Takacs1, Evdokia Kastanos2, Vedham Karpakakunjaram3, Robin Minor4

1. Anne Arundel Community College 2. Montgomery College/Rockville 3. Biology Department, Montgomery College 4. Community College of Baltimore County

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Summary:
This module contains exercises designed to help students understand how solute concentrations affect the direction and rate of osmosis. Students are given different scenarios to predict the direction of water movement, calculate the rate of change…

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This module contains exercises designed to help students understand how solute concentrations affect the direction and rate of osmosis. Students are given different scenarios to predict the direction of water movement, calculate the rate of change in mass and create graphs to determine the isotonic concentration.
Contents:

Description

The module is designed to be implemented in a 50-minute class session. In addition to the notes below, the instructor version has implementation tips, including for online courses. Calculators will be helpful, and students will need graph paper or computers with Excel.

The module requires some familiarity with the concepts of solutions, concentration, osmosis, and graphing, on graph paper or using Excel.  If students do not have the background or need a review, there is a pre-work assignment that accompanies the module that can be assigned. There are two versions of the pre-work, A and B. Version B asks students to create a graph on Excel and contains an additional section on the connection between osmosis and stomata on leaves. In the files, there is a student version of the pre-work assignments and module, and an instructor version which contains the answer key for all parts.

To begin the module lesson, have students work on the Readiness Assessment Test question in groups of 3-4. It may be helpful to guide students to make sketches for this first problem to help them interpret the scenario. After reviewing this problem as a class, students then begin the main section of the module where they are presented with data that they will be guided to evaluate. Students will be asked to make two graphs and will analyze their results in the context of osmosis. Students may need help with graphing, especially if they are not familiar with Excel.

This module was developed and implemented as part of the NEXUS Institute for Quantitative Biology (NIQB), Improving Undergraduate STEM Education (IUSE) Project, which is a collaboration between University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC), Anne Arundel Community College (AACC), Community College of Baltimore County (CCBC), Howard Community College (HCC), and Montgomery College (MC).

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