Lab - Water Quality at Templeton

Learning Intentions

  • To learn how to design and run a controlled scientific experiment
  • To learn how to write a properly formatted lab report

Part 1 - Preparation

We are going to be running a lab to compare the water quality in 3 different locations at Templeton. For every group, one of the locations must be the classroom water.

With your group, you will start by writing the lab report for the experiment. It should include the following elements:

  • Hypothesis
    • Write out what you believe the results will be
    • Do not use personal pronouns like "I" or "we"
  • Materials
    • What items are needed to run the lab?
    • Written out in a list, with 1 item per line
  • Procedure
    • Very clear, explicit steps about how to run the lab
    • Written out in a numbered list
  • Data Table
    • Ready to be filled out when you run the experiment


Part 2 - Lab and Report

After the teacher has approved your procedures in part 1, you may recruit your classmates to run your experiment.

As you collect the data, fill out the data table in your lab report.

Add the following sections to your lab report:

  • Analysis
    • Graph your data. Microsoft Excel is strongly recommended.
    • Why do you think you got these results? Were you surprised?
  • Future work
    • What future experiment(s) could you run based on these results?
  • Conclusion
    • Briefly summarize your findings
    • Make sure that you answer the hypothesis directly

Submit your lab report using Microsoft Teams.


Assessment


  • Required Parts (20%)
    • Got sign-off for Part 1 before starting Part 2
    • Lab report includes all parts (hypothesis, materials, procedure, data, analysis, future work, conclusion)
  • Design (50%)
    • Procedure is easy to follow and unambiguous
  • Analysis and Future Work (30%)

Required Parts
 Design
 Analysis and
Future Work
1. Beginning Missing a lot
 Experiment is
not scientific
 Shallow
2. Developing Missing a bit
 Experiment not
fully controlled
 Some mistakes
3. Applying ✓ Well-controlled
experiment
 Show good understanding
of results
4. Extending - More sophisticated
experimental design
 Insightful and
creative