Writing a Lab Report

1. Writing a Lab Report Karin Paquin Inquiry Project Plan Edu 743

2. Objectives • Learn how to create an exceptional lab report • Learn how to work in groups and create your own voice when writing their lab report • You will have a better understanding of the basic topics needed to create a lab report.

3. Materials Needed: • Laptop • Projector • Journals • Pencils • White board and markers • Examples of exceptional lab reports • List of lab topics

4. Lesson One/Day 1: Exceptional Lab Reports • You will break-up into groups of 4 based on the topic chosen • Topics Include • Invertebrate Lab • Phytoplankton Lab • Studies at Sea • Dissection Lab • Marsh Transect Lab

5. Activity One: Introduction (10 minutes) • What are the parts of a lab report? • What is a hypothesis? • How do you create a voice in a lab report

6. Hypothesis statement • A hypothesis is an educated guess about how things work. • Most of the time a hypothesis is written like this: "If _____[I do this] _____, then _____[this]_____ will happen." (Fill in the blanks with the appropriate information from your own experiment.) • Your hypothesis should be something that you can actually test, what's called a testable hypothesis. In other words, you need to be able to measure both "what you do" and "what will happen."

7. Activity Two (20 minutes) • Within your group read through the exceptional lab report and highlight the key areas • Introduction • Materials • Methods • Results • Discussion and Analysis • Conclusions

8. Activity Two: • Note the authors voice in the introduction, discussion and analysis and conclusion • Discuss in a group the important factors and what the purpose of the report is about • What was the hypothesis and was this disproved or supported? • How is the author wording their report

9. Activity Three: Class Discussion (30minutes) • Through shared writing we will create an outline for their lab report • Please note how the instructor begins the introduction • Don’t forget to formulate a hypothesis

10. Create a Lab Report Outline Title: Introduction: Materials List: Methods: Results: Discussion Analysis: Conclusion:

11. Homework • Students will be tasked with working in groups to complete their lab report outlines

12. Assessment • You will be assessed for the content presented in your outlines and will be assessed for filling in the outline areas created in class • Your journals will be assessed for note taking, content, grammar, illustrations, and spelling.

13. Lesson Two/Day 2 • Creating graphs, tables, and diagrams • Students will learn how to insert these into their lab reports • You will learn to create your own voice in your lab reports

14. Activity One (30 minutes) • We will work together through shared writing to create an introduction to each lab report.

15. Shared Writing Example Introduction • A lab report introduction should include the following • the hypothesis • the objective and purpose of the lab • Background information • Brief summary of how experiment performed • The findings of the experiment • List of conclusions of the investigation

16. Example introduction • Unicellular eukaryotes belong to the kingdom Protista, and are often referred to as “protists” or “protozoans.” The name “protozoan” means “first animal,” but eukaryotes may display either plant or animal-like characteristics, or a combination of both. Although unicellular, they have a nucleus and membrane-bound organelles, making them functionally complex despite their small size. Each small protist is a self-supporting unit, carrying out all the processes for survival in just one cell. They thrive on moisture and can be found on moist soil and in fresh and marine bodies of water. There are about 30,000 known species of protozoans, commonly classified according to their movement patterns as sarcodines—moving with false feet called pseudopodia or, flagellates—moving with whip-like structures known as flagella, ciliates—moving with short hairs known as cilia, and sporozoans—with no movement. They all have varying shapes, sizes, and survival strategies. For example, some may “hunt” small particles of food such as bacteria or algae; whereas others may be parasitic, inhabiting larger organisms. Despite their differences, all protists have several characteristics in common. In addition to a nucleus or nuclei to house their genetic material, most protists have mitochondria for metabolic functions, and vacuoles for digestion and excretion. With the help of these and other cellular structures, protists may feed, grow, and reproduce.

17. Activity Two (20 minutes) • Students will learn the differences between tables, charts, graphs, figure, and diagrams. • How do you reference a graph, chart, table, diagram, and figure

18. Example Chart Charts always include a x and y axis. It is important to use this chart when showing how to things work together over time. Such comparing the amount of phytoplankton to the amount of salinity or temperature.

19. Example Tables Tables are great for simply showing information such as that listed below.

20. Example Diagram Diagrams are perfect for showing how things connect or showing the inside of a fishes anatomy to relate to the dissection lab.

21. Example Graph Graphs are great for showing what happens over time. They also have an x and y axis. Such as explaining what happens as pollution runs into the marsh and accumulates over time. stat.columbia.edu

22. How to Reference the above • All of the above should have descriptive titles and should include a legend explaining any symbols, abbreviations, or special methods used. Figures, graphs, charts, figures, and tables should be numbered separately and should be referred to in the text by number, for example: • Figure 1 shows that the activity decreased after five minutes. • The activity decreased after five minutes (fig. 1).

23. Activity Three: • How and where to insert graphs and data? • Graphs and data should be inserted in the results section of the report • Remember if the instructor wants a 3 page written lab report this is three written pages without graphs, table, charts, etc… included. • It is helpful to write the report first and then go back and insert the actual graphs, charts, etc…

24. Assessment Day Two: • You will be assessed throughout the class. • You will be assessed for participation during discussions and your journals will be assessed for content and usefulness. The instructor will make sure you have written down the important components needed to complete your lab report

25. Lesson Three/ Day 3 • We will learn how to bring each element of the lab report together to create an exceptional lab report. • You will work in groups based on topic to complete the bulk of your scientific lab report.

26. Activity One (20 minutes) • Class discussion on how to combine all the different pieces of the lab report to create an exceptional lab report. • How can you build upon your outlines?

27. Activity 2 (20 minutes) • Write independently on lab reports for 20 minutes. Work on building upon your outline. Create full sentences and include more detailed descriptions in the methods section, results section, and conclusion.

28. Activity three (10minutes) • Get back into your groups of four and discuss what you have written thus far comparing and making notes of missed information

29. Activity four (10 minutes) • Final questions will be asked in this class wide discussion.

30. Assessement • Your teacher will carry out the final assessment. You will have one week to complete your lab reports and bring your drafts into a final paper • You final lab report will be assessed for content, grammar, spelling, punctuation, voice of the author, and format.