International Baccalaureate Biology seniors at Long Beach High School immersed themselves in an all-day in-school field trip on Dec. 18. Each student carried out experiments that they designed themselves based on their individual interests in the field of science.

As part of an internal assessment, this project accounts for a fifth of the students’ final grade in their second year of the two-year course. Students spent months preparing for this event and researched topics, wrote drafts, developed procedures, revised work and obtained supplies. They adhered to the intense IB rubric for writing labs, which they practiced earlier in the school year in classroom sessions. After hours of trial and error that ultimately led to successful execution of their plans, the students are now tasked with communicating and illustrating their objectives, strategies, observations and analyses in a 12-page report. 

Students worked independently, but served as assistants for classmates with projects in related categories. They studied aspects of enzymes and digestion, fermentation, photosynthesis and more, using apparatus and solutions that they made and advanced equipment such as a spectrophotometer. 

“It’s really impressive to see each student with such extensive set ups,” said teacher Karen Bloom.