Biology
Biology projects for class 11 and 12: 34 ideas.
Each project below opens to its own page with what it shows, the science behind it, the materials, safety, step-by-step instructions, what you should see and viva questions. Many can be made from things at home; where a kit helps, the page links one.
Other subjects for class 11 and 12: Physics, Chemistry, Maths, Earth and space, Electronics and robotics, Environment, Computing and coding.
Human heart model with double circulation
The heart has four chambers. The right side pumps blood to the lungs to pick up oxygen, and the left side pumps it to the rest of the body. Valves stop the blood flowing backwards.
DNA double helix model
DNA is two strands twisted into a double helix. The sides are sugar and phosphate; the rungs are pairs of bases, with A always joined to T and G to C.
Does the colour of light affect plant growth?
Chlorophyll absorbs red and blue light strongly and reflects most green light, so seedlings under green filters usually grow more weakly than those in white light.
Yeast fermentation and temperature
Yeast feeds on sugar and gives off carbon dioxide gas, which inflates a balloon fastest in warm water. Cold slows the yeast down and very hot water kills it.
Osmosis in potato strips
Water moves through cell membranes from a weaker solution to a stronger one (osmosis). Potato strips in strong salt or sugar water lose water and shrink; strips in plain water take in water and firm up.
Salivary amylase and temperature
The enzyme amylase in saliva breaks starch down into sugar. Iodine stops turning blue-black once the starch is gone, which happens fastest near body temperature; boiling destroys the enzyme.
Extract DNA from a banana
Washing-up liquid breaks open the cell membranes, salt helps the DNA clump together, and ice-cold alcohol makes the DNA come out of solution as white strands you can see.
Stages of mitosis in onion root tips
Root tips grow by cell division. A stained squash of an onion root tip under a microscope shows cells in prophase, metaphase, anaphase and telophase.
Counting oxygen bubbles from Hydrilla at different light distances
A water plant in bright light gives off bubbles of oxygen, because it is making food by photosynthesis. The closer the lamp, the faster the bubbles stream, until another factor limits the rate.
Spinach leaf pigments separated on filter paper
The green colour of a leaf is a mixture of several pigments. When the extract climbs a strip of paper, the pigments travel different distances and show as bands of green, yellow and orange.
Detached leaves left on a tray: which type loses weight fastest?
Leaves lose water to the air, mostly through their stomata. Weighing different leaf types over two days shows how leaf structure affects water loss.
Potometer from a straw and a syringe: still air, fan or shade
A potometer measures how fast a cut shoot takes up water, which is close to how fast it transpires. Changing wind or light shows which factors speed water loss from leaves.
Rhoeo leaf peel: counting stomata and guard cells
The lower surface of many leaves is dotted with tiny pores called stomata, each between two bean-shaped guard cells. Counting them under a microscope shows where a leaf exchanges gases and water vapour.
Lung volumes measured by water displacement in a bottle
The air you breathe out can be measured by the water it pushes out of an upturned bottle. It gives your tidal volume and your vital capacity, and shows how they compare between people.
Villi and surface area: flat cloth against a looped towel
The inside of the small intestine is covered with finger-like villi that give it a very large surface area for absorbing food. A looped towel soaks up much more water than a flat cloth of the same size, just as a villus-lined gut absorbs more.
Salt and yeast: how much does salt slow a rising dough?
Yeast makes dough rise by fermenting sugar and giving off carbon dioxide. Adding more salt to the dough slows the yeast, so the dough rises less.
Compost bucket temperature log: green waste against a green and brown mix
Microbes in a compost heap give off heat as they break down waste. A balanced mix of green and brown material, kept moist and aerated, warms up more than green waste alone.
Leaf litter in mesh bags: which leaves rot fastest in soil?
Fallen leaves are broken down by fungi, bacteria and soil animals. Burying equal weights of different leaves in mesh bags and weighing them later shows which kinds decompose faster.
Catalase in potato: raw, boiled and crushed pieces make different foam
Living cells make an enzyme, catalase, that breaks hydrogen peroxide into water and oxygen. Raw potato foams strongly when added to dilute peroxide, boiled potato hardly foams, and crushed potato foams fastest.
Fresh and tinned pineapple in jelly: an enzyme that eats protein
Fresh pineapple contains bromelain, an enzyme that breaks down proteins, so it stops gelatin jelly from setting. Tinned or boiled pineapple, whose enzyme has been destroyed by heat, lets the jelly set normally.
Mendel with coins: tossing a pea cross to find the 3 to 1 ratio
When two hybrid tall pea plants are crossed, each offspring gets one gene copy from each parent at random. Tossing two coins 100 times copies this and shows the 1 to 2 to 1 genotype and 3 to 1 appearance ratios.
Coloured bead necklace from DNA to mRNA to a short protein
The order of bases in a gene is copied into a messenger strand, and every three bases of that strand name one amino acid. Four colours of beads show the copying and reading step by step.
Balloon biogas digesters: kitchen waste against cow dung slurry
Microbes break down organic waste without air and release biogas, mostly methane and carbon dioxide. Measuring balloon size over days compares how much gas different feedstocks give.
Compost heap temperature log: heat from living microbes
Microbes breaking down garden waste release heat, so a compost heap warms up. A daily log of temperature shows the stages of composting and the effect of turning and moisture.
Fenugreek in nutrient water against garden soil: a growth race
Comparing hydroponic and soil growth under the same light shows what soil adds and what plants really need. Measuring height, root length and mass gives data to judge each method.
Salty irrigation water: how much salt can seeds tolerate?
Salt in irrigation water stops seeds from taking up water. Germination counts across different salt strengths show why saline groundwater harms crops.
Neem, garlic and soap sprays compared on leaf-eating damage
Natural sprays can reduce insect damage on crops without strong pesticides. Counting damaged leaves on sprayed and unsprayed plants gives data on which home-made spray works best.
Seed age and storage method: how germination falls with time
Seeds lose the ability to sprout over time, and storage conditions change how fast. Testing old and new seeds kept in different ways shows how to store seed for the next season.
Protecting stored pulses from weevils with neem, ash and turmeric
Grain stores lose food to weevils and beetles. Comparing traditional protectants in sealed jars shows how farmers can protect stored pulses without chemical sprays.
Earthworm food choice chamber: what do vermicompost worms prefer?
A choice chamber lets worms pick between foods. The amount eaten of each food shows what to feed a vermicompost bin and what to avoid.
Root nodule survey: pulse plants against cereals in a field
Legume roots carry nodules full of nitrogen-fixing bacteria, which enrich the soil. Comparing roots of pulses and cereals shows why farmers rotate crops with beans, gram or groundnut.
Potometer water uptake of a leafy shoot in still air, wind, shade and sun
Plants lose water through their leaves, and conditions change how fast. A potometer measures water uptake, and results show how much water crops need on hot or windy days.
Sleep diary and morning reaction time across a school week
Reaction time is how quickly we respond to a signal. Comparing the hours slept with the ruler-drop reaction distance each morning tests a common belief about sleep and alertness with your own data.
Salt in snack packets: a bar chart from sodium on the labels
Labels list sodium, not salt. Converting sodium in milligrams to salt in grams shows how quickly everyday snacks add up. This helps students read the label as a piece of data.