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Traditional Lab Reports

Traditional lab reports are a long-standing tradition in science education. They...

• Follow an outline format, usually with sections for the problem, hypothesis, materials, procedure, data, graphs, and conclusion.
• Can be daunting for students, especially freshman
  
• Often deter students from pursuing advanced science courses
  
• Often become several pages long, yet lack depth and sophistication
  
• Lack the scaffolding needed to build up to this level of scientific writing
• Are often accompanied by additional lab questions because teachers are skeptical students will be able to address the required concepts within the lab report
  
• Can be painful for students to write and grueling for teachers to grade

Lab Report Graphic Organizer

When discussing the lab report process as a team, it became very clear that the report itself is secondary to the student understanding the scientific process. From these discussions, the Lab Report Graphic Organizer was born. The graphic organizer...

• Helps students follow the flow of scientific thinking and reasoning
• Provides a less intimidating, student-friendly entry into scientific writing
  
• Still addresses the necessary components from prediction, to variables and constants, to data and graphs, then finally to conclusions
• Is a road map with arrows that helps students break down the experiment into understandable components
• Can be used for any experiment in any course (biology, chemistry, physics, etc)
  
• Can be used to help students brainstorm and organize essays in science
  
• Can be completed in parts (page 1 only, page 2 only, or both) depending on if the emphasis of the lab is on experimental design or on concluding principles
• Supports Common Core State Standards and Next Generation Science Standards
• Are much easier for teachers to grade and provide timely feedback
  

Downloadable PDF Graphic Organizer

Downloadable Word Doc Graphic Organizer

Sample Student Work

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