Exploring Creation with Marine Biology includes 30 labs, the majority of which my daughter and I will be completing this school year. We've already completed two of them! While Amber does some of her labwork independently, we have found that labs tend to be more interesting, educational, and fun with a little company. Last year, for Biology, Amber was blessed by completing all of her dissection labs with a homeschooling friend who was taking the same Biology course. This year, I'm her lab partner!
One of my goals for Marine Biology is to help Amber write really great lab reports. Scientific writing is definitely a different type of writing than she normally does and it requires a great attention to detail. As well, carefully conducting labs and writing conscientious lab reports helps to solidify understanding of the scientific method.
Last year, I graded most of Amber's Biology labs simply as pass/fail. Basically, if she completed the lab in a careful and complete manner, she received full credit for the lab and I didn't make her write up a lab report for every single lab. This year, though, I want to focus on improving detail and precision in labs and lab reports.
Inge Cannon stated in her wonderful DVD seminar, "you get what you inspect, not what you expect." Reflecting on those words of great wisdom, I realized that if I want my daughter to write excellent lab reports, I need to be very clear about what I expect and I need to carefully read and evaluate her efforts. In order to be able to carefully evaluate her work, I went in search of more information regarding writing lab reports for high school science classes.
After much internet searching, I found a wonderful resource, a Lab Notebook Guide. Using this wonderful resource, I created a High School Science Lab Grading Sheet. This grading sheet can be used in any high school science course for any lab report so I will be able to use it in all of my children's future high school science courses.
Amber's Marine Biology Lab Notebook is nothing fancy. Right now, she is simply writing her lab reports in a spiral-bound notebook. Eventually, she will transfer the pages to a 3-ring binder when she has drawings and pictures as part of lab reports as well.
To be more specific, my Lab Grading Sheet (based on the Lab Notebook Guide) includes the following areas which correspond to the way in which I require lab reports to be organized:
- Appearance (5 points possible)
- Purpose (3 points possible)
- Hypothesis or Research Question (2 points possible)
- Materials (1 point possible)
- Procedure (3 points possible)
- Results (6 points possible)
- Conclusion (5 points possible).
Therefore, each lab report is worth 25 points. For those labs requiring detailed drawings, I assigned an additional 3 points for each drawing. Overall, the hands-on lab work and lab reports account for 40% of my daughter's final Marine Biology grade.
Appearance
To achieve full points in Appearance:
- the name of the lab and the date need to be written at the top of the lab report
- the name of the lab needs to be written in the table of contents at the beginning of the lab notebook along with the page numbers for where the lab can be found in the lab notebook
- overall, the lab should be neatly written and reflect time and consideration on the part of the student
Purpose
In our high school science courses, I want my children to clearly understand WHY we are taking the time to do a particular lab. While lab work can be very fun and exciting, it is vitally important that students know the reason for doing the lab. What concepts from the reading are being demonstrated through the careful step-by-step procedure of the lab?
In the Marine Biology text, clues to the purpose of the labs are found in the Introduction section of the lab directions. The purpose statement which clearly explains WHY the lab was conducted is worth a possible 3 points.
Example taken from a recent Marine Biology lab:
The purpose of this lab is to see the effects of the salinity and temperature of water, and how it will sink or disperse depending on those factors.
Example taken from a recent Marine Biology lab:
The purpose of this lab is to see the effects of the salinity and temperature of water, and how it will sink or disperse depending on those factors.
Hypothesis or Research Question
The next section of the lab report is the hypothesis or research question. Based on the description of the lab found in the textbook and the prior reading and knowledge of the student, a prediction should be able to be made about the results of the lab, which would be the hypothesis. If not, a research question could be used instead. To receive full points in this area, the hypothesis or research question should be clearly stated and make sense given the guidelines of the lab.
Example:
When added to tap water, water with salt and water that was chilled will sink to the bottom of the glass because of its greater density.
Example:
When added to tap water, water with salt and water that was chilled will sink to the bottom of the glass because of its greater density.
Materials
This section of the lab report is easy. One point is earned by simply accurately copying the materials list from the textbook to the student's lab report. That's simple!
Procedure
In this section, the student is to explain, in detail, how the experiment was conducted with as much detail as possible. This section should be in the student's own words and should not be a copy of the step by step procedure statements from the textbook. The student should tell what he or she did in his or her own words.
Results
The focus of the results section is to report about all of the outcomes of the lab, in LOTS of detail. More information is better in the results section. If at all possible, quantitative (numerical) data should be included. This section should include sufficient information to demonstrate careful collection of data during the lab. Required or optional drawings should also be included in this section.
Example:
In part one of this experiment, blue water was added to yellow water. Both were room temperature and from the tap. The blue water dispersed, turning the entire contents of the glass green.
In part two, blue, cold water was added to hot, yellow water. The cold, blue water stayed at the bottom of the glass though some of it mixed with the hot, yellow water.
The third part of the experiment had the clearest results. Blue salt water was added to yellow tap water, both at room temperature. All of the blue water stayed at the bottom of the glass, not mixing with the yellow or dispersing.
Conclusion
Lastly, the conclusion section of the lab report should start with one sentence that states whether the hypothesis was confirmed or refuted. If a research question is used instead, a sentence should be included which very briefly answers the research question. After the opening sentence, the student should discuss what he or she learned from the lab and make one suggestion for further study that could be done in an area related to the lab.
Example:
This experiment confirms the hypothesis that colder water and water of greater salinity is more dense than warmer water or water without salt.
I learned that especially the salt in the water, but also the water temperature, have a big effect on how dense the water is.
A suggestion for further study would be to see if we used another solute (such as sugar), would it still be as dense, or is it only with salt that the water would become more dense.
My lab grading sheet helps me to evaluate my daughter's high school lab work in a systematic and reliable manner. Hopefully, over the course of the year, the quality and insight of her lab reports will continue to improve.
If you are homeschooling a high school student as well, how do you encourage excellence in your student's lab work?
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