Quantitative and Scientific Reasoning Standard n Students must demonstrate the math skills needed to enter the working world right out of high school or enter post-secondary training without remediation. n Students must demonstrate the ability to reason scientifically and to apply this reasoning to common problems affecting our community. n From Board Work Session 1999

Graduation Requirements Community & Staff Input Research & Development Team Superintendents Commission Current Research & Models of Excellence

n Formal Lab Report Requirement n Designed to work into a classes curriculum for purpose and connections n Developed by the teachers and normed by them

Requirements n Selection of an appropriate lab –Chem/Bio/Phys/Enviro Select an open-ended lab and control the variable(s) –When in doubt, ask me. n Complete a Formal Lab Report with proficiency n If not proficient –Rewrite the lab –2 weeks –One chance on the rewrite

n So what is it specifically?

n Intro & Purpose I. TITLE: It will be given to you or will be discussed as a class. The title should go on the first line of your paper and should always be preceded by the Roman numeral "I". Remember to always include Roman numerals for each and every section in your write-up. II. PURPOSE: The purpose should be written as a statement of expected objectives or findings. Be specific and detailed about all the goals of the experiment.. This is the reason for the lab and your conclusion will address this section.

III.BACKGROUND: In this section you will include a brief summary that should include: 1.Summarize all of the information and data that is given to you. 2.Summarize the experimental approach. (dont list the procedure, give a general idea of what you are doing and why you are doing it) 3.Summarize the main ideas and concepts (The reader needs to know to understand your lab. ex: If you say determine the velocity then you need to define what velocity is.)

IV. MATERIALS/ILLUSTRATION: This should be a bulleted VERTICAL list of ALL the things you will need to complete the lab. If the lab requires many objects you can make two or three vertical columns to save some room. Remember: BE SPECIFIC. The illustration, if necessary is a drawing showing how all of the stuff from the materials list goes together. Remember when doing this to include all materials from the list and make sure they are LABELED!!! As an example, this section is not just a picture of a force probe, it is a illustration of where the probe is in the lab, where it is held and what it looks like when data is collected.

V. VARIABLES: List all relevant responding and manipulated variables. Anything that you could change to affect the results of your experiment whether you change them or not, should be included. Include a brief description of your method to control each variable. A table works best. VI. PROCEDURE: This is probably the most difficult part of the lab write- up because it requires a lot of details. When you approach this section you should try to keep in mind that youre writing this so anyone that walks off the street could take your write-up and actually do the lab. Please start at the beginning of the lab and follow through in EXTREME DETAIL every step until the end.

VII. OBSERVATIONS and DATA: All data from experiments are to be recorded first in your bound data book in an organized data table showing appropriate units. This also includes any observations you make during the lab. For your formal reports, data tables must be well organized, labeled and done on a computer spreadsheet or table, or with a ruler. All quantities must include units and reflect the greatest precision available for the instruments used (0.020 m not 2 cm). If your data are qualitative observations, make sure that you are not recording inferences. Your data table should not include calculations that you have made with your data.

VIII. CALCULATIONS/DATA ANALYSIS: Show all of your calculations and give a narration with each step. If a method of calculation is repeated for multiple trials, you do not need to duplicate the explanation of the problem solving method. Work still needs to be shown for all calculations. For each calculation, show the set-up for your calculation, cancellation of units if appropriate, and units for the answer. Make sure your answers are recorded to the correct number of significant digits (figures), and are boxed or shown in a chart. You should calculate an average (show the work for this and follow significant digit rules) for experiments involving multiple trials.

IX. CONCLUSIONS/ERR OR DISCUSSION: This is the section where you tie everything together. Use the following examples. The conclusion should be written out in paragraph form and should include the following parts.

Use the italicized words as guides to begin your statements. 1. The purpose of this experiment was to... (Check your purpose) 2. To achieve this goal we... (Describe the experimental approach. Be very brief) 3. My experiment showed that...(your results here) (Use data and/or calculations from your experiment to justify your conclusions) 4. Factors that affect our results are... (What is the error? What affect does this error have on your data? See Below Keep in mind you may have more that one error but NO "could of's" or "should of's") 5. Our results could be improved if we... (Suggestions for improvement on the lab, better equipment is not a valid suggestion). 6. I could take this experiment further by… (What would you like to investigate more?).

ERROR ANALYSIS: Discuss what your group may have done and show how it specifically caused your results to be as they are. For example: The acceleration of gravity should be 9.81 m/s 2. If during an acceleration experiment, your group found the acceleration of gravity to be m/s 2 instead, discuss errors which would cause your acceleration calculations to be too high. Make it clear how each error would have driven the acceleration to be a higher value. It is not appropriate to say we must have misread the stopwatch or measured wrong. If you did this, your group should repeat the experiment!

ERROR ANALYSIS: When it is appropriate, you should accurately evaluate the validity of the results by calculating either the percent error as described below. You should show the set-up and all the work for the calculation. This calculation should be done once for the average calculated for experiments with multiple trials. % error = experimental value – expected (actual) value x 100 the expected (actual) value Percent error is used when you know what the value should have been and you want to compare your value to it. A negative value simply shows how many percent too low your value was.

Summary n Choose an appropriate lab n Write it up and remember FLB has 6 sections –Special areas to focus on n Help from me as needed n Turn it in & wait n Once it come back you have 2 weeks to rewrite if needed! n Other?