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Would this work for an IA topic?


kangaroosprinkle

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I've been struggling for about a month now to pick the topic for my first bio IA. My topics have been limited because I've heard that we have to do an IA on something we've already covered in class (is this true?). At length, I've come up with an idea I feel pretty good about, though the concept seems rather basic: I'll obtain 15 ducklings, and separate them out into groups of 5. For four or five days, I'll feed them a diet that's slightly lower in either fat, protein, or starch (not too much lower–can't be violating the experimentation policy). After those days, I'll give them an option of two different foods they haven't seen before, one that's high in what they've been lacking, and one that's low in what they've been lacking. I'll record which food they choose. The idea is to relate this to macromolecules and biochemistry, which is something we have studied.

I'm not super thrilled about this idea, but the limitation of having to do it on something covered in class is preventing me from doing it on topics I'm terribly interested in. Does anyone else know if this is a requirement set forth by the IB? I can't seem to find the answer anywhere and my teacher refuses to answer questions of any kind related to the IA.

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  • 2 months later...

I would really recommend asking your biology teacher. The IB are pretty iffy about the ethical side of the experiments.

Wouldn't chickens be easier to obtain?

Anyway, making slight changes in their diets would not make much difference, however these are baby chicks I'm assuming, so..... I don't have an expert opinion on it. The method of your investigation seems more like psychology to me because you are doing things to do with preferences.

If you choose to collect your data from what the animals choose to eat, you really would not get sufficient data, really. In addition, the scientific aspects are not very strong.

If you still want to go ahead with this approach, try a method where you weigh them after giving them this diet.

BUT honestly, this method would not receive any profound marks.

You also need some sort of control group, and you will also need a LOT more chickens than what you are expecting now.

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