Inquiry
Project
This semester I spent my student teaching experience at
Throughout my studies as a biology major at The College of New Jersey, I have conducted countless laboratory experiments as well as written an endless number of lab reports. In the science field, the ability to write a clear and detailed lab report is critical to any branch of science; biology, chemistry, physics, etc. Any findings or conclusions that are discussed within a lab report must be supported by concrete data from the lab and explained fully so that there is no doubt in the reader’s mind what happened and why.
A typical biology lab report includes the following parts:
I.
Introduction:
This section is about one paragraph in length. It describes the purpose of the
experiment, gives the reader a short background on the subject of the
experiment, and the reasoning behind the hypothesis. The final sentence of the
introduction should be a clearly stated hypothesis. (A hypothesis is a
prediction of what is going to happen in the lab, based on observations or prior
knowledge)
II.
Procedure:
This section explains how the experiment was preformed. It is written in
past-tense, and it explains, in detail, exactly what was done in the experiment
so that another scientist can repeat the lab exactly, just from reading this
section.
III.
Data:
This section consists of data table and written observations.
IV.
Results & Analysis:
In this section the results of the experiment are graphed. Any analysis
questions that appear in the lab are to be answered in this section as well.
V.
Conclusion:
This is a summary of the lab and its analysis in organized paragraph form. Each
lab handout includes a list of prompts to guide students in writing the
conclusion. However, the hypothesis should always be revisited in the
conclusion, accompanied by an explanation as to why or why it was not supported
by the data.
After realizing the importance of lab reports in the biological field I decided that this would be a good area to focus my inquiry project on. I chose one section of the lab report to direct my attention to, and that was their conclusions. My goal was to help improve the conclusions of the students in my class. Specifically I wanted them to include a discussion of all their hypotheses from the lab and whether or not they were negated or supported. I wanted them to analyze what happened in the lab and why certain events occurred. I especially wanted them to explain any claims or overall conclusions that they came to and use data from the lab to support them.
During my
first few weeks of teaching I observed a few lab reports written by students in
my second period class. This class consisted of thirteen eighth grade student in
the middle school Gifted and Talented program. They got bused to
Many students had problems writing conclusions that were complete and supported by data from their lab. They had difficulty remembering to include their hypotheses and show with data how they were negated or supported. They had no problem answering any guiding bullet points I included in their instructions for the write up, but many times left out a full explanation to their answers. I would get a “what” but not a “why” and in science it is critical that you explain all of your statements with sound scientific reasoning.
I chose to conduct my research on two eighth grade students in this Gifted and Talented program, because despite their admission into a higher level course, they were still struggling with their writing, which intrigued me. When I first started teaching this class, I figured after one or two labs they would be able to write lab conclusion extremely well, however this was not the case. I chose two 13-year-old students, one boy and one girl. Due to the fact that I began my student teaching in the fall, I did not have a large amount of work or grades to look at when deciding which students to pick; just the few weeks of observations before the initial assessment was given.
Student A is a good student who performs well on tests and quizzes. At the time I chose him he had a high B average in the class. He is always cooperative in class and never disruptive. Many times he does not participate in our discussions and seems hesitant to raise his hand to answer a question. Although when I do call on him during class he usually has the correct answer or something intelligent to add to the conversation. He may be having trouble expressing his ideas on paper, in the lab format or he could be having difficulty grasping the material. Although based on his tests and his contributions during class I think he is just having difficultly with the writing aspect.
Student B is an excellent student and a perfect example of a student who works hard at everything she does. At the time she was chosen, she had an A average in the class. She is always involved in class discussion, she raises her hand to ask questions, participates every chance she gets, and she performs well on her tests and quizzes. She sits in the front of the class right next to her friend, so at times she can get chatty, but other than that she listens and behaves well. I chose this student because although she is currently performing better than Student A on her tests and quizzes, I only think it is because she works harder, studies more and puts more overall effort into her work. I wanted to see how she would do once the material got tougher in comparison to Student A, who I think understands the material better but puts less effort into his homework and labs.
My baseline data was the conclusion section of the first lab report I assigned for a unit on Ecology. The students preformed a laboratory activity in class on predator and prey relationships. In the lab the students investigated how changing certain factors such as birth rate or death rate in one population can lead to changes in the other populations in a community. In this simulation, they used a shallow plate to represent the field where other predator and prey are found. The rabbit prey was represented by dried beans. The fox predator was represented by swipes with a spoon. They had to write up a formal lab report for this lab, due one week from the day we completed the lab in class. The only part of their lab that I used for my assessment was the conclusion.
On the baseline assessment Student A scored relatively low on his lab report; a 17 out of 25, which correlates to a 68%. Particularly, his conclusion was extremely weak. His conclusion was missing some very important pieces. For example, this particular lab required three different hypotheses and three different scenarios. In the conclusion they were supposed to discuss each scenario and each hypothesis. However, Lucas only wrote about the first scenario/hypothesis in detail. He left out the second scenario, and only mentioned the third very briefly. The most important part of the conclusion is their discussion of their hypothesis, this was lacking in Lucas’ report. His ideas were not very developed, and he answered most of the guiding questions in one sentence, possibly two. He did not use any data from the lab to support his conclusions and his conclusion was a meager half a page paragraph in length. After analyzing the baseline assessment I feel that Student A understands the material, but is either not willing to put in the effort, or is not completely sure of exactly how much is required of him in writing a good conclusion.
On the baseline assessment Student B had a good lab report; she scored 20 out of 25, which translates into an 80%. However, the points that she lost all came from the conclusion. She did not fully support all three hypotheses. In her conclusion she gave a nice summary of the general change that she observed in all three scenarios, however she did not specifically mention her first two hypotheses and whether or not they were supported or negated. And, although she did in fact state her hypothesis for the third scenario, she did not say whether or not it was negated. It is also important that she say why or why not her hypothesis was supported using evidences from the data. There was a solid frame of information in her conclusion, but it seemed underdeveloped. After analyzing the baseline assessment, I feel that Student B definitely puts a lot of hard work into her lab write-ups; however she may not fully understand everything that she needs to include in her conclusions. Many other students struggled on their conclusions for this lab as well. Most of the point that I took off when grading this lab came from the conclusion section.
For my second assessment I assigned another lab report, however this time I gave them nine specific questions to answer for their conclusion. They were numbered for them at the back of their lab procedure packet, which was handed out to them the day of the lab. They were instructed to make sure they included the answers to all nine questions in their conclusion, but keep the conclusion in a paragraph/short essay format. In this lab I made sure that all the questions I included in the procedure touched upon all of those things I was looking for in a well-written conclusion. Also, in each question that I wanted them to explain their answer further, I wrote ‘explain why’ to prompt them.
This lab dealt with Natural Selection, which was a topic in our unit on evolution. Each of the students was a hunter and had either a spoon, fork, or a knife. They were hunted different colored pom poms. The pom poms were either red, white or black and the two different habitats that were used were red and black felt. We ran the simulation for ten generations. Any pom poms that survived each generation reproduced one offspring. Any hunter that did not catch enough pom poms to be in the top half of the class, died and came back as one of the surviving types. This simulation demonstrated the process of natural selection and the idea that individuals do not evolve, populations do. The students were then instructed to write a lab report on this lab activity. Each individual lab report was completed at home, for homework and was due one week after the lab was completed. The actual lab itself was done in class, in groups of three.
Conclusion:
Address the following questions in a few, organized paragraphs. Cite
specific examples from your data when appropriate.
1. Address your
hypothesis. Was it supported or negated by your data and how?
2. Did
evolution by natural selection occur in each pom pom population, both the red
and black habitats? What contributed to the survival of the pom poms that
survived to reproduce in each one?
3. (a) What
contributed to the survival of the hunters that were able to survived to
reproduce?
(b) Were there
differences in the trends in the feeding type of the hunters among the two
habitats? Explain why.
4. Did any
individual pom poms change
color? If not, then why did the colors of the pom poms in the final population
differ from the colors of the pom poms in the original populations?
5. If we ran
the simulation for 50 more generations, what would you predict about the colors
of the pom poms and the hunter types in each habitat?
Red
Grassland:
6. What do you
think would happen to the hunter and pom pom populations if the black forest
experienced a decade long drought and became red grassland?
à
Make your prediction of what would happen if the initial population of pom poms
in the black forest included red, white and black pom poms.
7. Next,
suppose that natural selection over many generations had resulted in only
black pom poms surviving in the black forest, and then a prolonged drought
resulted in this habitat turning into red grassland. Would natural selection for
pom pom color occur? Why or why not.
8. Suppose
that all the hunters in the simulation were blind-folded and could only find pom
poms by touch. Would you expect evolution by natural selection in the color of
the pom poms? Why or why not.
After reading their conclusions I saw a big improvement. He scored a 23.5 out of 25, which is a 94%! Student A answered all nine questions, except for part b of number three. So he included mostly everything I was looking for in the lab other than that one small part dealing with hunters in the different habitats. He addressed his hypothesis, explained why it was supported, and used data from the lab to back up his answers.
Student B also did a great job on her conclusion this time. She answered all 9 questions, and did not leave any out. She thoroughly explained all her answers used data to support her them anywhere it was needed, and completely justified her hypothesis in the very first paragraph of her conclusion. Student A was very specific in her conclusion and backed up everything she said with sound reasoning. She had a longer conclusion than Student A did and provided a little extra insight into her predictions on the hypothetical scenarios I asked about. This was excellent. She had an extremely thorough lab. She also scored a 23.5 out of 25, which is a 94%! And, of the 1.5 points that she got marked off, none of them were from her conclusion! See Work Sample from Student B!!!
After conducting this assessment I learned that students who are willing to put in the time to write a good conclusion benefit a great deal from just a little bit of extra guidance. When given exactly what they should write and how they should write it, the students were able to put together a very well written conclusion. This did not only pertain to these two students, but overall the entire class preformed excellent on this particular lab report. This shows me that they are completely capable of turning in quality conclusions. In my next assignment I intend to include fewer questions, and make the questions more general. I will take out the “explain why” part of the question and see if they are able to defend their responses on their own, without the added push from me. Hopefully they will be able to keep up their improvement, but I also realize that it may take more than one lab report to form a good habit.
For my third assessment, I assigned a third and final lab report, but this time I removed many of the extensive directions and questions that I included in the last lab procedure. Again, they were instructed to write a lab report based on a lab they we conducted in class. The lab dealt with diffusion and osmosis and was a topic in our Cells & Transport unit. At the back of their lab procedure packet, similar to the previous lab, I gave them a guideline of what to cover in their conclusion. However this time I only included a few questions and removed all the “explain why” prompts that I included in the Natural Selection lab. I wanted to see if my students could keep up their conclusion writing techniques without feeding them step by step what to write.
The lab that they conducted tested the permeability of dialysis tubing to various substances. They tested glucose, iodine, starch and water. They filled the tubing with starch, glucose and water, and submerged it into a beaker with iodine and water in it. They let it sit for about 30 minutes and then tested the bag and the water for each of the substances, using color indicators or test strips. They found that iodine diffused into the bag and glucose diffuse out into the beaker, but starch was not able to move from within the tubing. This showed them that dialysis tubing is semi-permeable.
Discussion:
address the following points in a few well-written cohesive paragraphs.
1. What
was present in the beaker at the beginning of the experiment in part I?
What was present in the beaker at the end of the experiment in part I?
What con you conclude?
2. What
was present in the bag at the beginning of the experiment in part I?
What was present in the bag at the end of the experiment in part I?
What can you conclude?
3. In
part I, how did you determine if iodine, starch and glucose diffused?
4. In
Part I, did water pass through the tubing?
If so, what direction did it move, and how do you know it moved?
Could you set up the experiment to determine if water moved?
5. What
can you conclude about the permeability of the dialysis membrane to starch and
glucose?
In part
II, which solution was hypertonic to the bag?
Which was hypotonic to the bag?
Which was isotonic to the bag?
6.
Predict what would happen if you filled three bags with water and placed them
into beakers filled with water, starch solution and Karo.
What would happen to each bag?
After reading the conclusion for this lab I was a bit shocked. Both students had reverted to their previous ways of writing conclusions. Student A answered the questions, but did not explain every answer. Like I said earlier, every answer or statement that is made in a conclusion needs to have sound reasoning behind it or it needs to be supported by data from the lab. He answered most of the questions correctly, but many were short, one sentence answers. Although his conclusion was not as good as the previous one, it was indeed better than his first one. He did include everything he needed in the conclusion; it is just the supportive data and reasoning that he was lacking. This lab report was only out of 20 points, and Student A scored a 17.5, which equals an 87%. However, the points he had taken off were all from his conclusion. Student A Sample.
Student B actually scored the same on her lab report as Student A, 17.5 out of 20; 87%. In the first part of her conclusion she completely forgot to talk about the glucose, and whether or not it diffused out of the dialysis tubing. She explained how you test for glucose but never stated her findings on whether or not it was permeable to the dialysis membrane. Also, her explanation for how to test for starch was incorrect. Like student A, she did not explain a few of her answers, particularly when she got to the last few questions. The second to last checkmark asked about the solutions in the experiment. She answered the question, and stated which solutions were isotonic, hypertonic and hypotonic, however she used no data to support her claims, nor did she explain her answers. Like Student A, she also scored better than her initial lab but worse then her second one. Student B Sample.
Overall, I think this inquiry project not only helped me grow and focus as an educator, but it also benefited my students. I learned the importance of setting good habits early on in the school year, and also that good habits take time to form. I feel that the strategies I investigated with can be applied to many areas of my teaching. I began by guiding them step by step through the procedure and then attempted to wean them off my dependence, little by little. Of course I only had a few months to conduct this project, so it was hard to see long-term results.
I specifically chose two students to study, and initially it was because they both seemed to struggle with their conclusion writing. They are both good students, who otherwise scored well in the class. However, I felt that Student A understood the material but just seemed to be lazy and not interested in putting in the effort to write a good lab report. Yet, when I gave the second assessment he preformed much better on the conclusion section of the lab. This showed me that maybe he is willing to put in the effort, but has a difficult time understanding what he should include and how he should write his reports. Providing him with extra guidance gave him the structure he needed to perform well.
I initially chose Student B because she seemed to be opposite to Student A in regards to the amount of effort she put into her assignments. So with her, I knew that her lower scores did not stem from lack of effort but instead from either difficulty with the material or with understanding how a lab conclusion should be written. When I gave the second assessment she preformed excellently on her conclusion, which proved to me that she was able to understand the material. Like Student A, she simply needed a little extra guidance to help her focus her ideas and to serve as a checklist for her work.
Although both Students did not score as well on their third assessments, this did not prove my efforts wasted. They both scored better on this assignment than on their baseline, showing that they did in fact improve their conclusion writing skills, even if it was minimal. But again, I do not think it is fair to expect students to form solid writing habits after only one or two chances to practice. In their third assessments, I observed that both Students lacked the necessary explanation and the supportive data that was present in their second assessment conclusions. I feel this was due to the fact that I removed the constant reminders to “explain their answer” from their lab procedure handout.
At the start of the school year, many teachers based their thinking on the idea that once students are in high school, they should already know how to write proper lab reports with minimal help. However, I feel that in the beginning of the school year they should be given a few chances to work on their technique and develop the skill of writing biology lab conclusions. Instead of having them struggle and continue to receive lower grades, I feel that guiding questions that serve almost as a checklist could help them to include everything necessary in a conclusion. Like I said earlier, it is completely unfair to expect a student to form a good, solid habit after only one or two practices. If I were student teaching for a whole year, I would continue to give them the same amount of guidance for at least two-three more labs. Then I would slowly reduce the detail of the questions and the amount given. This would truly give them the chance to develop strong conclusion writing habits that they would be able to use year after year. Lab reports do not end after biology is over; they are a necessary component of every science class throughout high school and especially throughout college. I believe that helping my student with a skill like this is definitely worth the extra effort and monitoring.
In terms of my teaching strategies, this inquiry project helped to show me the benefit of providing complete guidance in the beginning of the school year and then slowly requiring more and more dependence from my students. I feel that this strategy is applicable to all areas of teaching, not just science and definitely not just to lab conclusions. In my teaching philosophy I talk about creating independent learners, and I feel that the strategies I practiced in this project will do just that. Although they may start the year off dependent on my knowledge and guidance, I feel that through this method of slowly removing my control from their assignments and projects they will become more and more self-reliant learners.