Home / Saint Peter Middle - High School Staff Directory / Andy Viker

TBD…Typed "lab" plan that includes the following items:

Finalized Question

Finalized Hypothesis

Proposed Materials List

Proposed Procedure

Blank Data Table

TBD…Final Copy of the Lab Report

            This project allows each student to design and complete their own experiment. Any science “fair” projects that have been used prior to this class cannot be used at all. In this assignment, the student will investigate a condition of their choosing that may affect the experiment. The experiment must include a variable and a control. 

 

            In this project, the student can check out specific materials to conduct an experiment. Before you may begin, you must submit a written plan that includes the following components:

You will then complete this experiment at home. Upon completion of the experiment, you will also have the opportunity to redesign or create a new experiment as many times as you wish over the course of the semester.

 

Question: What are you trying to find out when you do this experiment?

Hypothesis: This is your best “educated” guess of what will happen during the experiment. The experiment needs to be designed to prove this “educated” guess.

Materials List: This is a complete list of all the materials that are needed to complete this experiment. This list also specifies the quantities of each material. Think of it this way – if someone else were to do this, this would be their shopping list.

Procedure: This should read like a recipe with step by step instructions of how the experiment is done. This includes not only setting up the conditions, but when and where to record the data. This should be so well written that who reads it can repeat the experiment just as you did it. It is important to remember that you must follow your own directions. Good science requires that experiment and the results be repeatable to prove a hypothesis.

Data Table: This is the place to record the data that you are collecting to prove your hypothesis. There should be separate places, correctly labeled, to record both measurements (such as 2.5 cm) and observations (the roots appear fuzzy). The data table should also have places to record your data and time of measurements. When someone wants to check your conclusions, they will use this table to see if your results can support your conclusions.

Results Summary: This should be one to two paragraphs that describe, in general terms, what you discovered during the experiment. This is not a conclusion, but simply puts your data into words. An example of a sentence in this section would be “The seeds in soapy water grew an average of 5 cm in two weeks.” Do not explain why that happened. That is for your next section.

Conclusion: This is the section where you let the readers know if your hypothesis is right, wrong, or you still don’t know. You should specify what information in your data table you used to support your conclusions.

Reflection: In this section, you think back about your experiment. What did you personally learn by doing this type of experiment? How could have you done the project differently? What were the things that you did well? What things could you improve?