Click here to purchase your lab materials (this opens the lab manual brochure)
Integrated Science (SCI155-156 in CCCNS) used to require two lab kits totaling almost $500. I worked with Science Connected to develop a new lab curriculum for these courses which comes at a MUCH CHEAPER price and a more well-aligned PEDAGOGY for teaching majors.
Please purchase your own lab manual! Science Connected is a non-profit and your $45 (even cheaper than last year’s $47) goes a long way to improve inquiry-based science education across the globe.
When you purchase your lab manual, please save the receipt and submit it with your first lab.
The labs are due by the end of each unit. This means that some units have several labs with the same due dates. Manage your time wisely. Plan ahead! Read the labs and find out what textbook reading you need to focus on to learn about the concepts related to the lab experience.
Read How to Use this Manual. Then find the experiment that you will work on. The labs associated with each lab are listed in the Reading Resources.
Unit 1
1. Demonstrating the Forces of Flight
2. Make It Move: Measuring the Static Friction of a Shoe
Unit 2
3. How Do Different Materials Affect Temperature?
4. How Are Colors Created?
Unit 3
7. How Does a Solar Cell Create Electricity?
Unit 4
6. How Can Geckos Climb Walls?
Unit 5
5. How Can You Turn Saltwater into Drinking Water?
Unit 6
8. How Is the Aurora Borealis Created?
Each lab contains procedures that you would lead in a classroom to explore a science topic. With younger students (elementary school) science doesn’t look like the lab classes you take in high school and college. Instead, it is an exploration. Especially in physics, several activities that demonstrate a concept might each only take five minutes to demonstrate. Therefore, it is your job to craft your experience into a lab experience and report, something you will make your students do when you become a teacher! When writing this report, remember that can be written to the level of science you hope to teach. Stay in your comfort zone and think about your future students. Doing these lab activities and writing about them will prepare you to lead an exciting science class someday!
The lab report is a five-paragraph essay with the answers to any lab questions incorporated. A five-paragraph essay in lab report form has the following outline. Please use this exact outline in your submission. You can copy the following information into a new document and start writing your lab from there.
LAB PHOTO REQUIREMENTS
NOTE: Failure to submit required photos in a lab results no grade until you submit photos. Take photos while doing your labs!
LAB REPORT GUIDELINES
Incorporate all of the following into your lab report:
Paragraph 1: Introduction
Purpose/Question: Write a sentence or two about what the lab activity’s purpose is or what question the lab is designed to answer. You need to decide what the purpose is based on the activity(ies) you choose to write about. You do not need to write about all the activities in the manual for a particular lab. Do the exercises, then decide how you want to report back.
Background information/Learning Outcome: Describe the knowledge you need to teach the lab. Don’t write phrases like “now the teacher would…” Write directly to your reading audience in an active voice: “This lab demonstrates…these [insert specifics] science principles.”
Hypothesis: Based on the textbook reading and lab reading, write a hypothesis. Write this in an If /Then statement. For example: if a marble is placed on a ramp that is at a 45 degree angle then it will accelerate faster than on a 25 degree angle.
Paragraph 2: Methods
Methods: a brief summary in narrative past tense describing what you did to complete the lab procedures. Do NOT copy the methods from the lab manual.
Paragraph 3: Results
Data Tables/ Graphs: Place data tables and graphs in this section. You MUST create at least one table and one graph for your lab report.
Results: Write at least one paragraph discussing the outcomes of your activities. Answer all questions from the lab. Copy in each question found in the lab. Then answer each question with good sentence structure. A complete sentence includes the question.
Paragraph 4: Conclusion
Discussion: This is a written explanation that supports your claims. Graphs need to be interpreted and explained in order to count as evidence. Simply referring to them is not enough.
Paragraph 5: Reflection
Reflection: Discuss your initial questions and the purpose described in paragraph 1. Have your ideas changed? Do you have a new question? How do your results compare to other groups or the textbook or literature value? What connections did you make between the lab and lecture? What are some ideas for extending this experience to another lab activity. Do you think this will be fun to teach? How can you make it better?
Authentication Photo: Insert your authentication photo as required.
Sources: You should include a minimum of three sources in the correct APA format. The lab manual should also be cited in the lab report as one of the three sources.
Before you submit, make sure you:
- included the lab report with the heading described above.
- included at least one table and one graph of your own design that relates the variables you are testing.
- included at least one photo of you doing the lab. This photo should be a selfie that shows your face and your lab set up, your lab in action, or the final result of your lab.
- included three academic references from which you gathered additional information to support the lab experience. If you use the textbook as a reference manual to look up related concepts, the textbook counts as one of your references.
Submit everything in a single document.
Please consult the rubric!
| Laboratory Report Grading Rubric Criteria |
Superior Performance |
Average Performance |
Fair Performance |
Poor Performance |
Introduction Criteria – includes |
Exceeds criteria with additional hypotheses or referenced background information included. Any references beyond the lab manual and the textbook must be cited*. |
Meets all 3 criteria |
Meets 2 criteria |
Meets 0 to 1 criterion only |
| Methods Criteria – Procedures are |
Exceeds criteria with well-edited, concise procedural information. |
Meets all 3 criteria |
Meets 2 criteria |
Meets 0 to 1 criterion only |
| Results Criteria – includes 2) a digitally- produced graph or figure (label axes!), |
Exceeds criteria with electronically-prepared graphs that are properly labeled on all axes. |
Meets all 3 criteria |
Meets 2 criteria |
Meets 0 to 1 criterion only |
| Conclusion Criteria – includes 1) a written narrative that highlights the central results, 2) direct reference to the graph produced and what it depicts |
Exceeds criteria with references to additional research. |
Meets all 3 criteria |
Meets 2 criteria |
Meets 0 to 1 criterion only |
| Reflection Criteria – includes an interpretation of the results that 3) discuss how you would implement this in the classroom including ways the experience can be improved. |
Exceeds criteria with thorough discussion of course topics. |
Meets all 3 criteria |
Meets 2 criteria |
Meets 0 to 1 criterion only |
| * Reference/ Technical Criteria: All references must be cited. 1) All references appearing in the reference list at the end of the document must be cited in text (Gaddis, 2017). 2) References at the end of the document include author, date, title, publishing organization, and URL (if Internet resource) or place of publication (if paper resource). 3) At least two references are peer-reviewed, scholarly articles. 4) all lab report components are submitted in one typed electronic file. |
Impeccable attention to detail in referencing and more than two peer-reviewed articles cited. |
Some references are incomplete and missing parts |
Most references are incomplete and missing parts |
No references included |
| Overall Score |
Superior Performance |
Average Performance |
Fair Performance |
Poor Performance |
Q&A about this assignment:
The thing to keep in mind is that the open format is intended so you can make this your own. Imagine you were going to play with paper airplanes with your children or your future students. What would you do? How would you explain what is going on when you fly a plane (for example)? Another super simple example is the strip of paper. if you hold it to your lower lip, will it be blown down or up? Turns out, it blows up because you push the air away created a pressure deficit. This is called Bernoulli’s principle.
I recommend you read the sections in the textbook about forces and flight, pick one concept that interests you and craft a hands-on “experiment” ie activity about that using the lab manual as a way to get started with the hands-on component.
