Lab reports in middle school - how often?

[BetterthanIdeserve]

How frequently do you have your middle school students do lab reports? I'm thinking I did them rarely, if at all in middle school. I remember doing some in high school, but I'm a little hazy on how many. As a Chemistry major in college, I did them every week. If you have used Apologia, how often did you have your kids do complete lab reports? What do they do in public school these days?

My daughter been taking Apologia science classes at an enrichment center two times a week for the last few years. This is the first time that she'll be doing science completely at home. I'm not a huge Apologia fan, but she loves the curriculum and requested that she use their Physical Science curriculum this year. For fun, she has also asked to read the Master Books Applied Engineering books (so no written work for Applied Engineering or the digging deeper research questions - the reading takes her about five minutes a day). I may cut some of the Apologia work in 2nd semester to work in Applied Engineering activities, but for now I'm trying to decide how many lab reports I should have her complete. There were three labs the first week, and after coaching her to fill out three lab reports, that seems like a bit much. It looks like there are about 50 experiments for the whole year for Physical Science. She loves science (and has expressed some interest in pursuing engineering), but doesn't love the lab reports. Who does? ? Someone suggested just doing the purpose, the data, and the conclusion for most of them, and occasionally asking for a full lab report. This person thought it was silly to usually request a hypothesis, because the expected results were given right after the experiment in the text. I do know that my daughter retains information much better if she writes it out, but I want to keep middle school science as fun as possible. 

[Alice]

Never. ? 

I’m fairly laid back about science until high school. I was a Chem and Bio major so I love science and think it’s important but we mostly just read, watch documentaries, do fun experiments and learn about things they are interested in. I don’t have them do any reports. My oldest took Chemistry at our co-op last year in 9th grade. He did fine with writing reports without having done them before. 

I will say that my daughter is very different from her brothers. She likes things like workbooks and quizzes. So I’m going to use a more formal program with her this year. And when she does experiments she likes to write down things in a notebook. But I won’t require it. 

[Jean in Newcastle]

I could have sworn I replied to this but somehow I don’t see my reply:  We did experiments but no lab reports. We did lab reports in high school  My college STEM student had  no trouble doing lab reports in college (which btw had some differences depending on the professor).  

 

[hollyhock2]

For general and physical science, instead of having them to formal lab reports, I have my kids write summaries of the experiments. I think somewhere in the introduction of both books, Dr. Wile addresses this actually. I can't remember exactly what he says, but you could maybe look for that. You could also do some formal ones, and summaries of the rest.

[lmrich]

I do not use Apologia. I have my middle school students type up a lab report about every week. In the beginning of the year, I give them most of the information so they can concentrate on learning how to type and format the lab. I even share the Google Doc so they don't have to type the entire report, at the start of the year they have to record the data and the conclusion on their own. I gradually release the entire lab report to them throughout the first semester. We spend time in class making the graph together, but they have to go home do the graph and data table on their own (they can use their notes but you would be surprised how many struggle with just copying from their notes). Some labs are more observation type labs and require drawings. I am surprised at how hard this is for many students. I have restructured some class time to teach observational skills. Students need to learn to SLOW down. Students who I have had and are now in high school sciences come back to thank me. Learning how to do a lab report without the (high school) stress has been beneficial. 

[TracyP]

Never. My oldest didn't start writing lab reports until high school. She had no problem learning how to write them at that point. 

[8filltheheart]

We don't do experiments or write lab reports in middle school. I have kids who have degrees in engineering and physics. High school is ample time to learn how to write lab reports.

[stibalfamily]

I did one or two lab reports at week in public middle school. My memory could be off though, that was a look time ago. 

[EKS]

Never.

Lab reports are stupid.  They're stupid at the high school level too.  And frequently at the college level.--unless the student actually designs a statistically sound experiment and reports on those results.

And I'm saying this as a person who majored in biochemistry and worked as a lab scientist for many years.

Edited August 4, 2018 by EKS

[regentrude]

Never.

We did no labs before high school. High school suffices. And it is not because we're not science minded; both my kids major(ed) in physics in college.

Edited August 4, 2018 by regentrude

[Penelope]

We don’t do them. I know I have heard homeschooling gurus that recommend them, but I think it’s unnecessary in middle school. Students should be able to explain the demonstration and the related concepts, but a formal report seems silly. I agree with EKS that even at the high school level it seems a little silly, but we still do some then. It is a type of formal writing, and there are some skills involved in following a required format and using particular language.