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Implementing an "intervention" lab report format that even struggling students will complete
I teach chemistry to highly diverse groups of students at a large, urban high school in San Diego County, where enrollment in a laboratory science is mandatory. While the student participation rate for lab activities is over 98%, the turn-in rate for traditional lab reports averages just 35% to 85%. Those students who don't produce a lab report miss a critical opportunity to improve their skills in scientific discourse and literacy, which are central learning goals of the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS Lead States 2013) and Common Core State Standards (NGAC and CCSSO 2010) (see box, p. 26) .
A traditional lab report typically consists of pre-defined sections such as
* purpose/objective,
* materials,
* safety,
* procedure,
* results,
* analysis, and
* conclusions.
Traditional lab reports provide practice with formal writing but not with other forms of communication, such as speaking and listening. I hear from students that they love lab but hate the reports. Lab report completion in my classes is lowest among students with limited English proficiency, specialized learning plans (i.e., IEP or 504), male gender, and lower socioeconomic status. The problem of low participation in laboratory reporting spans all science disciplines, not just chemistry, according to my colleagues.
In California, most laboratory science courses weight lab activities at 20% of the total grade. Students who do not turn in three lab reports during a semester become locked into a downward grade spiral, and many go on to fail the course. Some educators respond by discontinuing lab reports. This fails to build science literacy or prepare students for engaging with scientific research or working as a scientist.
All of my students need to speak in class to make sense of science phenomena, processes, and ideas. Science talk is a core practice among scientists; obtaining, evaluating, and communicating information is an essential science and engineering practice identified in the NGSS; and when students talk about their findings, discourse helps students make meaning of their own experiences.
Students are more likely to develop insights and build an understanding of disciplinary and crosscutting ideas if they have scientific literacy support (Kelly 2007). Below, I describe a solution I developed to...