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General Science and Teaching

Lab Summaries

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Chris Leverington Chris Leverington 4035 Points

Good Morning! With the addition of Chromebooks to my school this year, I have thought a lot about how I can make students more accountable during labs.  I have had students do lab reports more often this year, since they can type things up on their chromebook, and I don't have to worry about computer availability.  However, the Lab reports are cumbersome and tedious and hard to grade. I was thinking about instead of having each kid do an individual lab report, maybe requiring each student to do a lab summary after the lab. Does anyone do this? I was thinking something along the lines of  *Summarize the procedure that you used to complete the lab (4-5 sentences) *Discuss what data was collected during the lab * IF applicable, make a graph of the data *Summarize the results of your experiment. * Conclusion I'm torn as far as having them input their data table, even though we've done it multiple times this year, I still have many students who struggle between graphs and data charts and how to make them on their chromebooks. Any thoughts on the categories or if you do one...can you provide an example? Thank You!

Pamela Dupre Pamela Dupre 92369 Points

Chris, I work with elementary students so our lab reports aren't super detailed and they are old school paper and pencil at this time. However, it looks like your list covers the necessary elements so that students would be able to look back and recall what they accomplished in each lab. What about allowing those that can insert data tables, go ahead and do so? The ones who can would be able to coach those who aren't quite there yet. Or you could give them a blank table to collect and record their data, then attach them to the report. Would it be overkill to have them draw and label their experiment?

Pamela Dupre Pamela Dupre 92369 Points

Chris, I work with elementary students so our lab reports aren't super detailed and they are old school paper and pencil at this time. However, it looks like your list covers the necessary elements so that students would be able to look back and recall what they accomplished in each lab. What about allowing those that can insert data tables, go ahead and do so? The ones who can would be able to coach those who aren't quite there yet. Or you could give them a blank table to collect and record their data, then attach them to the report. Would it be overkill to have them draw and label their experiment?

Ruth Hutson Ruth Hutson 64325 Points

Hi Chris, I like your categories for the summary. I wonder if a short purpose statement at the beginning of the summary before the procedure would also be helpful. Something along the lines of this....The purpose of this lab was to ________.

Chris Leverington Chris Leverington 4035 Points

I don't think it would be over kill, but I'm trying to keep it digital. The downfall of the chromebook vs the Ipad is that it doesn't have a camera for them to take pictures with. I've seen some online where they have them take pictures of their lab set up and then put that in their report. I've had them take pictures of their calculations with their phones, and then email the picture to themselves and put it into their report...but that is annoying...lol. It amazes me sometimes that they are the "generation of technology" but so many of them are very inept at using it.

Kathy Biernat Kathy Biernat 5195 Points

Hi Chris, I have al my lab reports on line and the kids use Chromeboooks for everything start to finish. There is a camera in the Chromebooks so they can take pictures - mine do! I give them the bolded headers (Problem Statement, Hypothesis, Variables, etc.) and they fill it in - very easy to correct. I require a data table and a graph that they create in Sheets and copy and paste in. I don't require photos usually,but many of them will include a picture. It is a little cumbersome to take the pictures as the keyboard gets in the way a little, but they work it out! It is so easy to grade.

Jenna Fritz Jenna Fritz 215 Points

Hi Chris, I think that all the information you want them to include in their summary is great and very do-able for the students! I was thinking you could possibly have the students draw their data or graph on a separate sheet of paper and turn that in separately so you can still see the data they collected during the lab.

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