Need info on lab notebooks and lab reports for self-designed experiments, and samples

[Nan in Mass]

I have decided what I want to do about our weaknesses in tech/sci/math (for those who helped me through my panicky spot last week). Among other things, I think my son needs to formally record and write up his experiments.

 

He designs his own. They are usually fairly simple like seeing if he can discover the right sort of whistle to get the crows talking. The crow experiment is something which would work better written up informally in his nature journal, but sometimes he comes up with something which could easily be turned into a formal experiment. I would like to help him learn to record these properly, at a high school level. Is there a book or a website or can someone explain how to keep a lab notebook, write up an experiment, and then write a formal lab report? I can find things that explain it at a college level, with lots of information about statistical error and using excell, and I can find things that explain how to do it at an elementary school level, but I am having trouble finding something which explains how to do it at a medium level. I should be able to wade through the highest level explanation and adapt it, but somehow, I can't. I also need examples to show him. A few samples would probably be just as useful as lots of explanations. And it would help him to rise to the occasion instead of giving me a few punctuationless hen scratches and lots of question marks.

 

Thank you lots,

Nan

[Jane in NC]

Hi Nan,

 

My son is enrolled in his third science course at the CC, all of which have included a lab component in the grading. I had thought, therefore, that "formal" lab reports would be part of the process, but it appears that completing experiments and associated materials in the lab manuals are usually the extent of the labs. These published lab manuals ask leading questions which are answered sometimes in a few words, other times with chemical equations or sketches, possibly with paragraphs noting observations or direct measurements. One thing that my son has commented on is that different profs have different standards of what is acceptable. Perhaps this is the first consideration you should have. Do you want your son to jot observations or write complete sentences/paragraphs describing his lab steps?

 

At one point I had tried to implement more formal labs by introducing a template in which my son would state the problem, his hypothesis, a description of the procedure including materials used, written results and then a conclusion. I found that science does not fit a template. I think that these are the general components of any lab report, but sometimes there were specific skills within the report that required more focus. For example, when he studied Conceptual Physics and produced data for certain experiments, he then learned how to use Excel to create a spreadsheet to record his data. One of my son's biology labs was photographing a bird necropsy for a wildlife rehabilitator. The rehabber had a hypothesis on what killed the loon, but a lab across the state was required to culture the tissue samples. As far as a formal lab goes, this was incomplete. Yet I think that he learned more from this than from some of the "canned" labs one inevitably performs in biology.

 

So...my advice is to look at those formal templates for labs as a goal. Then work with your son on various aspects of them. Perhaps it would be best to first focus on writing problem statements, i.e. stating various questions which might be answered in a lab. Then formulate some sample hypotheses--are these something that can be tested? How? Does this hypothesis really weigh in with an answer to the question or is it just correlation? It is especially important for Reluctant Writers to pen ideas.

 

It seems to me that real science works differently than elementary/high school science by the nature of its questions. Science in the real world is complicated. It is hard to isolate one particular issue and focus on a question that has a definitive answer. I think that is why I like to see larger observations. Frankly some high school labs just seem phony to me--too pat, you know?

 

Jane

[Julie of KY]

If you google it, you can get instructions for a formal lab notebook.

 

Basically, it should be a bound (spiral or other) notebook that is writen in with permanent ink. Simply cross out any mistakes.

 

All the pages should be numbered and a table of contents at the beginning.

 

Each page should have the date and title of the experiment.

Purpose of the experiment.

Background information (data/facts looked up before beginning the experiment)

Planned Procedure - a short blurb about what you PLAN on doing.

Actual Procedure - step by step what you actually do. Write this as you do it and it might vary significantly from the planned procedure.

Data - numbers, observations, graphs, sketches, calculations, tables, etc.

 

Conclutions should include:

Results - what did you find out

Discussion - Discuss the results and what they mean. Did they support your hypothesis? Any insights on how you might have done the experiment differently? Ideas for future questions to answer.

If you are doing a lab from a book that has discussion questions, answer them here.

[Nan in Mass]

Hi Nan,

 

My son is enrolled in his third science course at the CC, all of which have included a lab component in the grading. I had thought, therefore, that "formal" lab reports would be part of the process, but it appears that completing experiments and associated materials in the lab manuals are usually the extent of the labs. These published lab manuals ask leading questions which are answered sometimes in a few words, other times with chemical equations or sketches, possibly with paragraphs noting observations or direct measurements.

 

When my middle son took CC chemistry, we noticed the same thing - lab manuals with questions but no lab reports. I thought perhaps it was because it was into chem, not general chem. Perhaps not, if your son has had the same experience. At the time, I didn't look at the manuals and now they seem to have disappeared. I did ask my son about what he did for lab writeups and he said that he just had to answer questions and that as long as they showed up, did the steps, answered the questions, and passed the pages in, they received full credit for the lab. Now I am finding that unhelpful and wish I'd investigated further, but I thought my youngest would be taking a different chemistry. How much background did your son have in chem before taking CC general chem?

 

One thing that my son has commented on is that different profs have different standards of what is acceptable. Perhaps this is the first consideration you should have. Do you want your son to jot observations or write complete sentences/paragraphs describing his lab steps?

 

 

Part of my confusion has been between lab notebook and lab report. My husband straightened this out by explaining how his people kept lab notebooks' date=' wrote lab reports, but did not write technical papers. My internet searches had produced directions for all three of these but without explaining which, just calling them all lab reports. Once I was clear on this, I better able to see what I wanted my son to do. Some of the pieces that were going into other peoples' lab report formats were really things that would only appear in a technical paper in real life. We decided that our youngest will keep a proper lab notebook and occasionally type one experiment up as a lab report. At the end of the year, he can try turning one of those lab reports into a technical paper (Writing Strands has directions on how to do this - another thing that has been adding to the muddle.) I think I might require full sentences for anything typed, but let him use phrases for his notebook.

 

At one point I had tried to implement more formal labs by introducing a template in which my son would state the problem, his hypothesis, a description of the procedure including materials used, written results and then a conclusion. I found that science does not fit a template.

 

We've tried this, also, and came to the same conclusion. That is part of why I settled on having mine keep a lab notebook, not just do lab reports. I've divided it even further this year by having my son both continue his lab notebook from two years ago when we did Conceptual Physics (and made up 8 or 10 experiments), and keep a nature journal. If it is a formal (more or less) experiment, it will go into the lab notebook. If it is something informal, like seeing if he can get the crows to answer, he can write it in his nature journal. Do you think that will work? Do you think I am being overly complicated about this? It IS complicated, though. That is why I've never really managed to pull this off before. Either the experiments are so simple they are stupid, or they are complicated enough that testing them properly, or even figuring out how to test them properly, is beyond my children's reach, or even mine. This year, since I feel I really must do something with my youngest, I've decided I'm going to force him to do some of the simple, stupid experiments and document them properly. Then we'll see if he can come up with any that are of interest to him. I'm not going to fuss over whether he is testing them well. We'll discuss the complications and then just do whatever is practical with our time constraints, our un-knowledge of statistics, and our limited equipment. He'll still learn lots. In the past, it has been a best-is-the-enemy-of-the-good situation. Forget good. I'll settle for mediocre. It is better than nothing.

 

I think that these are the general components of any lab report' date=' but sometimes there were specific skills within the report that required more focus. For example, when he studied Conceptual Physics and produced data for certain experiments, he then learned how to use Excel to create a spreadsheet to record his data. One of my son's biology labs was photographing a bird necropsy for a wildlife rehabilitator. The rehabber had a hypothesis on what killed the loon, but a lab across the state was required to culture the tissue samples. As far as a formal lab goes, this was incomplete. Yet I think that he learned more from this than from some of the "canned" labs one inevitably performs in biology.[/quote']

 

So far, I have been unable to get my son to do the canned labs. He either becomes sarcastic and obstructive and does such a bad job that it defeats the purpose, or if he happens to be feeling particularly happy, he refuses to be bored and alters the lab beyond recognition (and our ability to do some sort of writeup). If I refuse to let him alter it, he becomes surly and completely uncooperative. I want him to like science, so this defeats the purpose. The only thing we've found that worked (other than making our own) was Fun with Atoms and Molecules, but that was years ago and I wasn't great about finding the energy to do it.

 

So...my advice is to look at those formal templates for labs as a goal. Then work with your son on various aspects of them. Perhaps it would be best to first focus on writing problem statements' date=' i.e. stating various questions which might be answered in a lab. Then formulate some sample hypotheses--are these something that can be tested? How? Does this hypothesis really weigh in with an answer to the question or is it just correlation? It is especially important for Reluctant Writers to pen ideas.

 

It seems to me that real science works differently than elementary/high school science by the nature of its questions. Science in the real world is complicated. It is hard to isolate one particular issue and focus on a question that has a definitive answer. I think that is why I like to see larger observations. Frankly some high school labs just seem phony to me--too pat, you know?

 

Jane[/quote']

 

This is a good idea. My husband said something similar. He found me surrounded by pieces of paper, reading various lab report formats and getting upset, when I was supposed to be packing to leave for the weekend and volunteered to help. He said lab reports are his job and he could make me a format in five seconds. It took me an hour to explain why he couldn't just scribble one out for me while I was packing and be done. Once I managed to explain, he was very helpful. He helped me disentangle the difference between notebook, report, and paper. He also helped me see the difference between a lab one designs oneself, one that a teacher assigns, and one that is mostly observational without any sort of conclusion. He knows how to deal with those, which should help with the earlier problem. His format was full of often-times-you-don't-have-this-part-s. He looked at a few of the lists and said they just had all those extra parts (like purpose) to lead students to the next part. He says a huge part of his job is English teacher, and that he is constantly taking his peoples' test reports and saying, "This paragraph belongs in this section and this one is redundent and this one contradicts that one and you don't know this part yet so you can't write about it." He says that if our son can learn how to come up with a question, rewrite it as a hypothesis, figure out how to test it, and write it all down, he will be way ahead of the game, because he has to teach most of his young engineers how to do that. He was very comforting. We left it that I would find a normal high school lab report format and he'd fix it to be a more practical, univeral form that had some of the leading questions (like purpose) attached as a list of things to think about under each section. He also had the brilliant idea of dividing the format in half, and having our son go to him to have his test idea reviewed before he actually does it. And (phew!!!) he volunteered to talk to him at that point about things like whether he needs to calibrate his equipment, and whether he (son) has thought about whether it matters if the equipment is at room temperature or not, and other things like that, things that I have enough imagination to know exist, but not enough experience to discuss in any particular situation.

 

If I can pull this off, then my son will have one or two years of natural history, during which he can practise all this and learn to make experiments, and after that, two years of CC science during which he can learn to use lab equipment properly, and learn his chemistry and physics. I think this might work.

 

Your post was very helpful. I've been worrying over this for years. It is beginning to sound straight forward when I write about it now, but it was all a muddle in my head.

 

-Nan

[Nan in Mass]

Julie - This was very helpful. I've tried googling, and nothing I found was as helpful as your short list. I especially like the planned procedure/actual procedure part. I am going to give this list to my husband. If you read my reply to Jane, you will see why. This will combine with his test report format very nicely. They are almost the same already, so this will be easy. The planned and actual part makes so much sense that I can't believe I didn't think of that long ago. It seemed stupid to make my son stick with a procedure he had suddenly figured out wouldn't work, just because he had written it down.

-Nan

[In The Great White North]

Basically, it should be a bound (spiral or other) notebook that is writen in with permanent ink. Simply cross out any mistakes.

 

All the pages should be numbered and a table of contents at the beginning.

 

Each page should have the date and title of the experiment.

Purpose of the experiment.

Background information (data/facts looked up before beginning the experiment)

Planned Procedure - a short blurb about what you PLAN on doing.

Actual Procedure - step by step what you actually do. Write this as you do it and it might vary significantly from the planned procedure.

Data - numbers, observations, graphs, sketches, calculations, tables, etc.

 

Conclutions should include:

Results - what did you find out

Discussion - Discuss the results and what they mean. Did they support your hypothesis? Any insights on how you might have done the experiment differently? Ideas for future questions to answer.

If you are doing a lab from a book that has discussion questions, answer them here. __________________

 

This is basically what the Illustrated Guide to Home Chem... has for lab reports also.

[JennW in SoCal]

Thank you for this Jane, Nan and Mr. Nan:001_huh:, this is making more sense to me now too.

 

My dad was a physics professor. He passed away many years ago, and I've been trying to remember the various comments he made about teaching science. I have little bits I can remember but not a big picture of his philosophy. What you describe your husband saying ties many of those bits together for me.

 

By the way, my dad was adamant that scientists know how to write well and to that end gave only written tests for even his huge beginning physics courses while his colleagues were reverting to multiple choice! I'm sure all those lab manuals have gotten to be common place due to the ease of grading them. But scientists have to write -- why wait until grad school for that?? I'd love to see what wind up with for your lab report format.

 

Nan, can my ds come do science camp with your ds and dh over the summer??!!

[elegantlion]

Thank you for this Jane, Nan and Mr. Nan:001_huh:, this is making more sense to me now too.

 

 

:iagree: and thank you. My son is always coming up with his own science experiments. At this point I simply want him to learn how to document what he is doing and develop a foundation in writing for science. I took Julie's list and helped him start a notebook today.

[KAR120C]

Which I think fit into what you're saying here...

 

One is the "canned" labs he does for Biology. Those he writes up materials/ procedures ahead of time, and although he doesn't rewrite the procedure as "actual" he does make notes about changes as he works (which amounts to nearly the same thing I think). The exercise is mainly in planning and executing and recording. I have him do this instead of filling out the printed practical book that comes with his curriculum, but he does answer the questions.

 

The other lab notebook he keeps is for his science fair project. This is possibly more like what you're talking about because it's his own experiments. He does plan ahead and write a procedure, but the first third of the book at least is in tweaking that procedure before he starts on the real data collection. One year he did a project on cooking sugar candy, and he had pages and pages of recipe changes, one ingredient or amount or instruction at a time, and what happened when he cooked them. That was before he even "really" got started. But when he had his recipe and procedure hammered out into what he wanted it to be, the rest of the book was all the repetitions to collect the data he needed.

 

He says that if our son can learn how to come up with a question, rewrite it as a hypothesis, figure out how to test it, and write it all down, he will be way ahead of the game

 

This is exactly where I'm coming from for the science fair project. As much as I like our curriculum (and I really do love it - it does have some parts where the kids have to come up with their own experiment to test what they've learned about... yay!) I think really what's lacking in science education in general is the training to carefully and thoroughly answer your own questions.

 

The science fair project is the only work that DS writes up as a formal report (for the science fair!), and the one thing I'd add is that once you're at that formal report stage, if you can stick with the one question and hypothesis all the way through to the conclusion, even if the conclusion is "I was completely wrong in my hypothesis", you're way WAY ahead of the game. The lab notebook is where you can go haring off after all manner of new ideas as long as you're keeping your notes straight, but the formal report is one question, one hypothesis, an appropriate test and analysis, and a conclusion.