Notebook submit
Open your materials, follow the steps, then turn in your work.
Assemble and submit a complete transformation and gel laboratory notebook.
1. Open your materials
Use the materials named in the first step below. Open lesson resources.
2. Start the work
Compile your transformation notes, plate data, and gel map.
Show all 5 required steps
- Compile your transformation notes, plate data, and gel map.
- Record colony counts and fragment-size estimates with units.
- State your conclusion about transformation and plasmid identity.
- Note one source of error and a future improvement.
- Submit the notebook and confirm it in your tracker.
Lost your place? If you fell behind, check your notebook against the checklist: if colony counts and fragment sizes are in with units, move to 'state your conclusion'; if not, finish recording data with units first.
Check your work before submitting
- Your notebook documents transformation results and gel analysis.
- It includes a conclusion and is submitted.
Before lab work: read the safety rules
- Wear the required PPE, keep the bench clear, handle equipment only as directed, and know where the eyewash, sink, and spill kit are before you start.
- Human samples and data stay private: label with a code, never a name, and dispose of materials in the correct waste container, then wash your hands.
3. Turn in your work
DueCheck Schoology- Hand in
- Complete transformation and gel laboratory notebook: transformation notes, plate colony counts with units, gel standard curve, fragment-size estimates with units, conclusion on plasmid identity, one error source, and one future improvement.
How to submit and name your file
Use the submission route shown on today's today's page.
In Schoology, open your course and the assignment for this lesson. Attach your file, select Submit, and check that it appears in the submission.
PDF upload helpYou get two school days for every day you were absent, so this deadline moves with you.
How this lesson connects
Keep using what you learned last class: A gel map confirms a construct because a log-linear standard curve converts each band's migration distance into an estimated size, so matching those sizes to the predicted restriction map proves the plasmid is correct. Today: A complete lab notebook is the permanent record of an experiment because it links method, unit-labeled data, and a conclusion back to the original question, so another scientist could reproduce and evaluate the work.
Optional: listen or watch a unit review▸
Need help? Warm-up, timing, and directions▸
💡 Big idea: A complete lab notebook is the permanent record of an experiment because it links method, unit-labeled data, and a conclusion back to the original question, so another scientist could reproduce and evaluate the work.
- 0-5 minWarm-up: what is missing from a lab notebook that just has data but no conclusion?
- 5-25 minCompile notes, plate counts, and gel map into one notebook document
- 25-45 minVerify all data has units; verify conclusion references both and results
- 45-60 minAdd one error source and one specific future improvement
- 60-72 minFinal check: is every page dated and labeled?
- 72-80 minSubmit notebook and confirm in tracker
- • Today we close out the -gel unit with a complete, submission-ready lab notebook.
- • The notebook is your permanent record: someone should be able to replicate your work from it.
- • counts with units, fragment sizes with units, a conclusion, and one error: those are the requirements.
- • When you submit today, Problem 6 lab documentation is done.
- • All numerical data in the notebook must include units.
- • A conclusion ties the data back to the original hypothesis or expected result.
- • Identifying one error source and an improvement shows scientific self-evaluation.
PLTW connection and today's work
Open Problem 6 in your myPLTW course shell and confirm Problem 6 activities are complete, then assemble and submit your complete transformation and gel laboratory notebook.
Today's stopping point: All Problem 6 milestones (workflow notes, transformation, gel analysis) should be complete by today.
PLTW activity titles identify the course connection. If your account will not open, use the posted materials for today and tell Mr. Mendoza. Do not mark an online activity complete unless you completed it.
Course connection
- Project 6.1.2 Construction and Cloning of Recombinant DNA
Use the turn-in directions at the top of this page. Do not create a second submission unless your teacher asks for one.
Show another explanation or a smaller first step
Need help? Choose a starting point
Finish the assigned lab safely before starting extra practice.
Lesson resources: reading, slides, and vocabulary▸
The deck carries the prior idea forward, lets you inspect an analogy, maps the rule to biology, and ends with the same evidence decision and exit ticket used on this page.
Generated from this lesson's canonical data with a red-team citation check.
A gel map confirms a construct because a log-linear converts each band's distance into an estimated size, so matching those sizes to the predicted restriction map proves the is correct.
A complete lab notebook is the permanent record of an experiment because it links method, unit-labeled data, and a conclusion back to the original question, so another scientist could reproduce and evaluate the work.
A library keeps a master plan protected while working copies guide production at different stations.
- Why protect the master copy?
- What information moves?
- Where can an error change the final product?
Stored information can be copied, read, and converted into a functional product.
Genes are regulated biological sequences, not conscious instructions, and one gene rarely determines a whole trait alone.
- • Master plan maps to DNA.
- • Working copy maps to RNA.
- • Production output maps to or a regulated cell function.
Driving question: You have notes, plate counts, and a gel map. How do you assemble them into one notebook that states whether the transformation worked, whether the is confirmed, and where your experiment could have gone wrong?
What you already know: A gel map confirms a construct because a log-linear converts each band's distance into an estimated size, so matching those sizes to the predicted restriction map proves the is correct.
New idea: A complete lab notebook is the permanent record of an experiment because it links method, unit-labeled data, and a conclusion back to the original question, so another scientist could reproduce and evaluate the work.
Visual or model: F1. F1. A lesson illustration or teaching diagram for Notebook submit. Use it with E1-E3; it is a model or context image, not experimental or patient data. What to notice: Trace the labeled system, test, or design relationship and identify which evidence should trigger revision.
- Observe or measure the relevant feature in notebook submit.
- Organize the observation with a stable evidence ID.
- Apply this rule: Stored information can be copied, read, and converted into a functional product.
- Choose the option the evidence supports and state the limit of the conclusion.
Real biomedical example: You have notes, plate counts, and a gel map. How do you assemble them into one notebook that states whether the transformation worked, whether the is confirmed, and where your experiment could have gone wrong?
What the evidence supports: E1-E3 and F1 support the daily take-home when the response meets the stated success criteria.
What it cannot prove: The package does not support claims beyond this lesson's or any real patient diagnosis.
- • : The process by which a bacterial cell takes up foreign DNA, such as a , from its surroundings and begins using those new genes.
- • selection: The process of choosing among options using set criteria, such as picking the best design solution or the strongest candidate.
- • : A visible cluster of identical microorganisms growing on a plate, all descended from a single original cell.
- • digest: To cut DNA at specific sequences using restriction enzymes, producing defined fragments that scientists can sort, study, or join together.
- • : A lab method that uses an electric field to pull DNA fragments through a gel so they separate by size and show up as bands.
- • : A set of DNA fragments of known sizes run alongside samples in to measure the length of unknown bands.
Use it now: Choose one decision option. Cite E1 and E3, then explain how the rule connects the evidence to your choice.
Go further, optional: The source links below are optional enrichment. Every fact required for today's local evidence decision appears in this lesson package.
Molecular workflows use controls and complementary separation or detection steps to evaluate a target, while each band, fraction, or remains limited by method resolution and sample quality.
Limit: A band, selected , or fluorescent fraction alone does not prove identity, , correct sequence, biological activity, or clinical suitability.
Stored information can be copied, read, and converted into a functional product.
Limit: Genes are regulated biological sequences, not conscious instructions, and one gene rarely determines a whole trait alone.
Your notebook documents results and gel analysis.
Limit: E3 defines the classroom product or success criterion. It is not independent scientific evidence and cannot justify a clinical or causal claim.
PLTW-BFH-2027-05-10 · Simulated classroom evidence scenario
Your role: biomedical design team member
Decision: Your team must decide what the evidence from notebook submit supports before submitting the lab report named on today's page.
- • One and one gel cannot show whether this result repeats, so a second run is what the record lacks.
- • Write a conclusion that answers your original question, and name one error source that could have changed results.
- • Summarize what happened, colonies grew and bands appeared, and leave errors out so your results read as clean.
Response: State one choice, cite at least two evidence IDs, explain the rule that connects them, and add one limitation. Submit it as the lab report.
Claim ceiling: Today's evidence supports a classroom claim about notebook submit. It cannot prove causation, diagnose a real patient, or justify action outside this room.
Reason for review: Your team must decide what the evidence from notebook submit supports before submitting the lab report named on today's page.
Context: A complete lab notebook is a permanent, reproducible record because it ties method, data with units, and a conclusion back to the original question, so someone else could rerun and check your work.
- • T1: Compile your notes, plate data, and gel map.
- • T2: Record counts and fragment-size estimates with units.
- • T3: State your conclusion about and identity.
- • T4: Note one source of error and a future improvement.
- • T5: Submit the notebook and confirm it in your tracker.
- • E1: Molecular workflows use controls and complementary separation or detection steps to evaluate a target, while each band, fraction, or remains limited by method resolution and sample quality.
- • E2: Stored information can be copied, read, and converted into a functional product.
- • E3: Your notebook documents results and gel analysis.
Measurements: Use only the measurements, units, graph, or counts supplied in today's task. No additional patient measurement is implied.
Figure finding: Teaching diagram for Notebook submit. Trace the labeled system, test, or design relationship and identify which evidence should trigger revision. This is a teaching model, not patient or experimental data.
Uncertainty: This is a composite classroom scenario. Missing history, measurements, or confirmation tests remain unknown and limit the conclusion.
For a linear , y = mx + b. To estimate an unknown concentration, use x = (y - b) / m.
A is y = 0.40x + 0.10. An unknown signal is 0.90. x = (0.90 - 0.10) / 0.40 = 2.0 concentration units.
Signal units belong on y. Concentration units belong on x. Confirm the unknown falls inside the standards before interpreting it.
Use the equation or graph supplied today to estimate one unknown. Show the substitution, concentration unit, and range check.
Students often think Students think the conclusion is just restating what happened ('colonies grew, bands appeared') and that noting an error makes their lab look like a failure.. The trap: A conclusion is a claim tied back to the expected result, not a summary of events, and naming an error source is what makes the work credible rather than weak, because honest self-evaluation is exactly what a reviewer trusts.
Notebook contents:
- Methods: heat-shock transformation, plating on four conditions, restriction digest, and agarose gel with a ladder.
- Plate data: 84 colonies on the plasmid + antibiotic plate; 0 colonies on the no-plasmid + antibiotic plate; lawns on both plain-agar plates.
- Gel data: standard curve from the ladder; sample bands estimated at about 600 base pairs and 380 base pairs.
Conclusion: The transformation worked, because colonies grew only where the plasmid and antibiotic were both present, and the negative control showed no growth. The gel fragment sizes are close to the predicted restriction map, so the plasmid identity is confirmed within estimation limits.
One source of error: My ladder bands were slightly smeared, which makes the migration distances I measured a little uncertain.
Future improvement: Next time I would load less DNA and run the gel a bit longer at a steady voltage to get sharper, easier-to-measure bands.
Status: Submitted to Schoology and confirmed in my tracker.
This model shows the level of evidence and organization needed to complete: Completes the assembled lab notebook: transformation notes, plate colony counts with units, the gel standard curve and fragment-size estimates with units, a conclusion on plasmid identity, one error source, and one future improvement.
- State the question and method.
- Present the observations and data with units.
- Explain the result, limitations, and next investigation.
Keep the structure. Replace the question, facts, measurements, and evidence. Then recheck units, vocabulary, and whether the conclusion goes beyond the evidence.
Also due today: Submit the finalized lab notebook on Schoology and confirm in your tracker.
- CER:
- Claim, Evidence, Reasoning: make a claim, back it with evidence, explain your reasoning.
- SOP:
- Standard Operating Procedure, the exact steps to follow (especially in a lab).
- Tracker:
- Your PLTW progress log where you record completed evidence.
- myPLTW:
- The PLTW course site where you do the online activities. Find it in Clever with your Microsoft sign-in, right next to Schoology.
Tap the speaker to hear a term. Add two of these to your notebook glossary with a definition and an example in your own words.
Pick just 2 or 3 words from today and make them yours: write what each one means in your own words, name the context clue or evidence that helped, then give one example from what you actually did in Notebook submit. Try your own words first; the glossary is there if you get stuck. This is voluntary and counts as extra credit, so keep it short.
Saved on this device. Show Mr. Mendoza or add these to your notebook glossary to claim the extra credit.
Classroom documents for this lesson are posted in Schoology. Open Clever, then Schoology, and find each one by the name shown on its card.
Use this if you were absent, got stuck, or need another pass before you submit the lesson artifact.
Placement rationale
Matched , , molecular evidence by path:Biomedical-Innovations/Problem-6_Molecular-Biology/6.1_Molecular-Biology; keywords:transformation, , molecular. Score 146. Visibility: student-schoology (student-facing resource; link through Schoology rather than local path).
Use this if you were absent, got stuck, or need another pass before you submit the lesson artifact.
Placement rationale
Matched , , molecular evidence by path:Biomedical-Innovations/Problem-6_Molecular-Biology/6.1_Molecular-Biology; keywords:gel, molecular. Score 142. Visibility: student-schoology (student-facing resource; link through Schoology rather than local path).
Use this if you were absent, got stuck, or need another pass before you submit the lesson artifact.
Placement rationale
Matched , , molecular evidence by path:Biomedical-Innovations/Problem-6_Molecular-Biology/6.1_Molecular-Biology; keywords:transformation, molecular. Score 142. Visibility: student-schoology (student-facing resource; link through Schoology rather than local path).
Sign in to Clever with your district Microsoft account to open Schoology or myPLTW. Follow today's posted steps. If myPLTW will not open, use the posted alternative and tell Mr. Mendoza. Turn in your completed work through the Schoology assignment.
Practice: try a question, then check your answer▸
Claim ceiling for this check: Today's evidence supports a classroom claim about notebook submit. It cannot prove causation, diagnose a real patient, or justify action outside this room.
A notebook conclusion reads: 'We saw colonies and three bands on the gel.' Why is this not yet a real conclusion, and how would you fix it?
Write an answer and pick a confidence to unlock the key.
Fast retrieval with instant answers, not the commit-then-reveal check above. Try each from memory first: write what you remember about the earlier units, then check yourself here.
Missed class or ready for more?▸
Run this before you touch the bench. It is built from the real lab procedure, so the decisions you make here are the ones you will make with the equipment in your hands.
I can name the procedure's purpose and the evidence I will record. I can state today's specific hazards and the control for each. If this deck does not name them, I ask Mr. Mendoza before I touch anything. My data table is ready before materials are handled.
Finish the checklist before you handle any material.
- • Wear the required PPE, keep the bench clear, handle equipment only as directed, and know where the eyewash, sink, and spill kit are before you start.
- • Human samples and data stay private: label with a code, never a name, and dispose of materials in the correct waste container, then wash your hands.
- 1Before materials are handled, identify the purpose, variables or comparison, controls, measurement units, and stop-work condition.
- 2Compile your transformation notes, plate data, and gel map.
- 3Record colony counts and fragment-size estimates with units.
- 4State your conclusion about transformation and plasmid identity.
- 5Note one source of error and a future improvement.
- 6Submit the notebook and confirm it in your tracker.
- 7Record each result in the prepared table before interpreting it. Mark missing, repeated, or invalid results truthfully.
- 8Complete the named cleanup and waste route, remove PPE safely, wash hands when required, and confirm the station is ready for the next group.
| Trial or sample ID | Independent condition | Measured result with units | Observation before interpretation | Quality-control note |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Before the procedure, predict the result and cite the rule behind the prediction.
After the procedure, compare the result with the prediction and name one limitation or source of uncertainty.
What today's skills lead to. These are real health-science careers this course builds toward. Tap one to see, on the US Department of Labor's O*NET site, what the job actually involves, what it pays, and how fast it is growing.
The bench work needs equipment you do not have at home. Do the thinking half now: read the procedure, write your prediction, and set up your data table so it is ready.
Back in class. Ask Mr. Mendoza for the class data set, or for a bench slot to run it yourself. Do not submit a Lab report with invented numbers.
Class still runs. Complete the online activity above (it's self-guided). Need the concept taught without a teacher? Use this authoritative explainer:
Learn.Genetics (University of Utah): gel electrophoresisYou've passed Unit 2, so the optional extra-credit track is open. Complete reserved-unit work from home, including virtual labs, for extra credit. Each item shows its correct submission route.
Open the extra-credit track- CompleteEvery required part of the artifact is present, nothing left blank.
- AccurateThe science and the data are correct and match the evidence.
- Scientific reasoningYou explain your claim with evidence and reasoning (CER), not just an answer.
- Professional communicationClear, organized, labeled, and written the way a clinician or scientist would.
- SubmittedGo to Schoology to turn this in. Submit one PDF. Put your first and last name in the document header. Name the file: FirstName LastName - Assignment Title - YYYY-MM-DD.pdf. If you cannot get in, see Mr. Mendoza. Do not skip the work.
- Error analysis and method · counts doubleName a specific limit of the method and how it moved your result, and compare what you predicted to what happened. "Human error" does not count; say what about the procedure or instrument caused it.
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