Grading High School Science Labs

My daughter is taking Marine Biology this year.  We are using the textbook, Exploring Creation with Marine Biology, the Marine Biology Dissection Kit, and the Marine Biology Slide Kit.  To supplement the core course materials, I have added a video each week and a field trip to an out-of-state aquarium complete with a behind the scenes tour.

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.

Using the Lab Grading Sheet based on the Lab Notebook Guide as a guide, my daughter knows that her lab reports should be organized in a specific manner and she also knows how many points are assigned to each part of her lab reports.  Grading lab reports is much easier with the Lab Grading Sheet as well.

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.

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.  

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?

Teaching High School Biology - What I Will Change and What I Won't Change The Next Time

This school year my teenage daughter and I have been working our way through a high school Biology course.  Overall, the experience has been wonderful.  I have definitely been much more of a co-learner than a teacher in this course, though I was surprised how many concepts I remembered from my own biology courses in high school and college.  We started back to school way back at the beginning of August and now Amber is on the 14th of 16 modules in the text.

In the months that we've been working on Biology, I have often thought about aspects of the course that I will do differently the next time and I have also thought about all of the aspects of the course that I love and will not change at all.  Luckily for me, I will get to be a co-learner two more times with my two younger boys!

So, when I get to be a co-learner in Biology again, what will I do exactly the same?

• I will use the same textbook - Apologia's Exploring Creation with Biology 2nd Edition.  I've been reading the book right along with my daughter and have found it to be extremely well-written, clear, and packed with wonderful, educationally meaningful illustrations and pictures.  I truly have enjoyed reading the book and my daughter has as well (except for a few particularly difficult modules.)
• I will use the same microscope.  Given the cost of the microscope, even if I didn't like it, we would still be using it again but I LOVE the microscope we purchased.  We purchased the Sonlight Ultra Microscope.  We have found it easy to use and of excellent quality.  

• I will use the same schedule.  We purchased the Science 250 kit from Sonlight which included a 36 week day by day schedule for the textbook.  I followed the schedule very closely and found it was a perfect amount of work each day for my daughter.  Also, having the schedule was WELL WORTH the cost as it saved me a lot of time scheduling out the course myself.  It is important to note that the teacher's edition is only a tests and solutions manual and does not include a schedule for completing the course.
• I will use the same slide set, specimen set, and dissection kit.  As mentioned before, I ordered the Science 250 kit from Sonlight which included almost everything needed for the Biology labs.  I was extremely pleased with all of the contents.  When I am a co-learner again in Biology, I will just need to order a preserved frog, fish, crayfish, and earthworm to do the dissections again.
• I will find a partner for my child's dissections again.  Amber did all of her dissections this year with a friend who was taking the course as well.  I was amazed by how long they spent working through their dissections and how thorough they were in their investigations.  I definitely think her experience was enriched by having a lab partner.  If no lab partner is available next time, I will be the lab partner for the dissections.
• I will use the Lapbook Journal kit again.  Amber has been so very proud of her Biology notebook and it is pretty impressive!  Using the Lapbook Journal kit from Knowledge Box Central has made answering the On Your Own Questions and preparing the study guide for each module much more enjoyable.  Barb from Harmony Art Mom posted a thorough review of a similar product from Live and Learn Press on Curriculum Choice.
• I will have my child complete the study guide as he works through the chapter.  While this is contrary to what is recommended in the teacher's guide, I preferred to have Amber complete the study guide as she worked through the chapter rather than complete all of the study guide questions at the end.  When she reached the end of the chapter, she already had her study guide completed and was ready to really get studying!   
• I will try to lay the groundwork for upper level science with lots of hands-on science study in the earlier years.  Amber definitely was able to call on her years of nature study programs, educational science videos, and field trips while working through the course.  

Now, what are some aspects of the course that I will change or things that I wish I had done during the course or while preparing to teach the course?  When I am a co-learner again, I will definitely do all of the following.

• I will gather all of the materials that are needed for the course ahead of time.  Now, this is actually pretty easy with Biology.  Most of what is needed is included in the Science 250 kit that I mentioned earlier.  A full list of needed materials is found in Appendix C of the Apologia Biology text.  I also recommend purchasing additional T-pins for the dissections, coverslips for the slides, and larger dissection trays.  Large, foam meat trays work really well. 
• After reading all of the experiments, I will be making some adjustments to the order in which we complete the modules.  I wish I had read all of the experiments ahead of time.  Then, I wouldn't find myself in a situation where my daughter has a leaf collection to complete and we have no leaves anywhere.  Next time around, I'll start with modules 14 and 15 on plants so that we can do the leaf collection.
• I will be clearer from the very beginning about my expectations for lab reports.  My daughter definitely needed more direction than the brief instructions given for lab reports at the beginning of the text.  
• I will omit the Module Summary assignments.  We finally deleted these assignments about halfway through the course.  My daughter's time was much better used making up her own study notecards and studying her study guide than completing a fill-in-the-blank summary of the module.  

One of Amber's creative study notecards.

• I'll definitely take more of a teacher role in a few modules.  While we got through a few difficult modules just fine, Amber would have had less frustration if I had brought in some outside resources and worked with her to help understand modules 5 (the chemistry of life), 6 (the cell), and 7 (cellular respiration and DNA.)
• I'll use the tests that I have prepared for the course.  I do use the tests that come in the teacher's manual with one exception - I include a lot more of the vocabulary on each test.  Amber was continually frustrated because she would study the vocabulary for hours and hours and then find that only a few of the vocabulary terms were on the test.  So, I just added more vocabulary terms to each test.  In fact, I included all of the vocabulary on each test in a matching format.  Since I didn't start doing this until we were well into the course, I'll change the rest of the module tests to reflect more emphasis on the vocabulary terms.  
• I'll look for more field trip opportunities.  Later this month, Amber will be attending a full day Career Day at a local zoo for teenagers where she'll learn about careers in the zoology field.  The day will be a perfect tie-in for Biology but, really, it completely fell in my lap as she was invited by a homeschooled friend to attend with her.  Biology abounds with field trip opportunities, many of which are discussed in Harmony Art Mom's wonderful Squidoo lens about Biology.  While Amber's early years of nature study really laid the foundation for the course, we didn't get out and about into nature or other field trips nearly as much as we should have during the course.  
• I will schedule use of the companion CD.  If I write something down for my children, they do it as part of their lesson for the day.  If I don't , they don't.  I expected that Amber would seek out the companion CD whenever it was mentioned in the text.  Sometimes she did but sometimes she didn't.  Next time, I'll make it mandatory.  The companion CD is wonderful with pronunciations, and short video clips that make the material more interesting and easier to understand.
• I will add another dissection IF my sons are excited about doing the dissections.  Before working through the course, I was a bit afraid of the dissections.  Vague memories of suffocating formaldehyde smells made me slightly nauseous just thinking about them.  But, the specimens had little odor and really, the whole process was fascinating.  Who knew that earthworms don't have hearts?  I sure didn't.  For example, we could dissect a snake or a turtle during our module 16 study of reptiles, birds, and mammals.

For those of you who have already worked through high school biology, do you have any tips of your own?  For those of you who will be teaching high school biology soon, do you have any questions?

Amber and I will working through Apologia's Marine Biology course next year and I am quite excited about being a co-learner again with her!

Study Aids for Biology

My daughter is taking Apologia Biology this year.  She is currently studying for the Module 2 test on Kingdom Monera.  For the test, she needs to memorize the "Partial Classification of Kingdom Monera" table.  At first, she thought memorizing the table would be almost impossible.  I encouraged her to focus on memorizing the four different Phylums first and their characteristics.

I was so pleased when she showed me the index cards that she had made to help her prepare for the test.  Using an excellent study strategy, she made memorable connections between the Phylum names and the characteristics of the Phylum.  Her index cards were excellent and I found that I easily memorized the information after looking at her pictures and explanations.
                                    

"Bacteria in Phylum Gracilicutes say "No Gracias" to Mr. Gram's dye-job stain, which they don't retain."  Phylum Gracilicutes - Gram-negative bacteria

  "Bacteria in Phylum Firmicutes have strong and firm muscles and a positive attitude!" 

Phylum Firmicutes - Gram-positive bacteria

"Bacteria in Phylum Tenericutes are very tender because they have nothing to protect them, like a wall."

Phylum Tenericutes - Bacteria lacking a cell wall

"Bacteria from Phylum Mendosicutes come from Mendonisia and are exotic belly dancers."

Phylum Mendosicutes - Bacteria with exotic cell walls

I adore the little bacteria drawings!  Who says high school biology can't be fun?  Obviously not the belly-dancing bacteria!

Gasp, My Daughter is Taking High School Biology Next Year!

Technically, my daughter will be in 8th grade next year.  But, you know us wacky homeschoolers, the "technical" grade of one of our students does not dictate what courses the student is taking for the year.  Amber is definitely ready for a greater challenge in her science studies.  As well, starting high school science courses in 8th grade will allow her to take more high school science courses.  Apologia offers 7 different high school science courses!

Since my daughter is taking Biology next year, I needed to make some changes in our homeschool regarding science.  Up to this point, I have always covered science in unit studies with all of my children together.  I've never used a textbook for science.  Now, at least with my daughter, I have to start thinking about science as a class with a textbook.  That, in and of itself, is a big change.

Even more than the change in the way that I think about science in our homeschool, though, is the fact that Biology is a high school course...for which I will give a grade...and credits...and put it on her transcript.  For all of these reasons, Biology seems more formal...more scholarly...and more scary.

Since I was nervous about teaching high school biology to my daughter, I began to look for ways to reduce my nervousness.  I taught Public Speaking at the college level for years and years.  My students would always ask me how they could be less nervous about their upcoming speeches.  The best advice that I could give my students was to be prepared.  The more prepared a student was for their speech, the less nervous they tended to be.  That same advice holds true for many other situations in life.   

Months ago, I began preparing to teach high school biology, focusing on reducing my nervousness about the course through adequate and thorough preparation.  So, what did I do?

One of the first things that I did was seek support online and through books regarding homeschooling through high school, both in general and specifically related to science courses.  What did I discover in my search for online/book help?

• Barb from Harmony Art Mom and The Handbook of Nature Study has a wonderful Squidoo lens about teaching high school biology while integrating a Charlotte Mason approach. 
• Jay Wile has a very encouraging seminar, Teaching the Jr. High and High School Sciences at Home, that was incredibly supportive about teaching the upper level sciences.
• Sonlight sells a complete Biology package for Apologia Biology with almost every single thing that is needed to teach the course, including a schedule.
• Donna Young provides a wealth of free printables to coordinate with the Apologia Biology course, including vocabulary bookmarks for each module, lab sheets, and schedules.
• Knowledge Box Central sells a very thorough lapbooking and notebooking set that corresponds completely with Apologia Biology.
• High School at Home:  You Can Do It!  was very helpful for me as I was struggling to just wrap my mind around homeschooling through high school.
• I also found great encouragement for homeschooling through high school from Lee Binz' DVD, Preparing to Homeschool High School.  With over 4 hours of encouraging and informative content on the DVD, I found the investment in this DVD to be well-worth the price.  I know that this a resource to which I will refer over the years.

I was also able to find support in a real, live person!  One of my good friends is teaching high school biology in the fall to her son, using Apologia Biology as well.  I asked her if she would be willing to get together for the dissection labs and she was willing to do so.  So, thankfully, my daughter will have a peer lab partner for all of the dissection labs.

So, now I am working on reading the Apologia Biology text before the school year begins.  I've found the text to be incredibly interesting and easy to understand.  I certainly wish my biology text from high school had been as interesting!

I am also working on putting together my daughter's Biology notebook ahead of time to streamline her studying a bit.  I have been incredibly pleased with the lapbooking/notebooking set from Knowledge Box Central.  While my daughter will need to do all of the work of actually writing in her Biology notebook, I am working on the physical act of cutting out the lapbook parts and putting the notebook together for her.  I'll be sure to post about her Biology notebook when I'm done.

So, if you're teaching a high school course for the first time this fall, my best advice is to get prepared.  Actively seeking out resources to reduce my anxiety about teaching upper level science courses has really helped me to feel much less anxious about the new school year.