Inquiry Labs and Process of Matter

Labs Report Format:

Inquiry Labs

There is no one right way to write a lab report; however, these are some common

guidelines that will help you. You should neatly write your lab report on the left side of

your ISN. Use the following checklist (glued to the right side) to create your lab report:

• 1. Heading: Please include your name, the date, and the title of the experiment at the top of your paper.
• 2. Research question: The reasearch question tells the reader exactly what you want to find out through your experiment.
• 3. Introduction: This paragraph describes what you already know about the topic, and it shows how this information related to your experiment. You will also stat what you plan to do in your experiment.
• 4. Hypothesis: This states the prediction you oplan to test in your experiment. State your hypothesis as an "if/then'' statement, without using the word "I." For example: "If sugar is dissolved in three different cups of warm water,then the cup with the most sugar will form crystals the fastest.''
• 5. Materials: List all of the materials you need to do the experiment. Use metric measurements (ex. cm or mL).
• 6. Procedures: Describe the steps you followed. Provide enough detail that your readers could repeat what what you did. You may also include sketches of the experiment setup. Be sure to name the variable you are testing, as well as the comtrolled variables (In an inquiry lab you may do this at the end).     EX. 1. Pour 200 mL of water in a clear glass. 2.Measure 50 mL of granulated sugar. 3(etc.)
• 7. Observation and Data: Describe what happened in your experiment. Consider using charts, graphs, diagrams, and/or pictures.
• 8. Analysis/Conclusion: Describe your findings. State whether your hypothesis was correct or not. Explain what you learned, what you would do differently next time, and any new question/hypotheses that your experiment raised.

Digital Day

Students have been working on writing scripts to demonstrate what they have learned about Lab Safety Rules over the past 3 days. Students made movies of their skits today in class and will learn how to use technology to edit and format their movies later this school year.

8/30/10

8/30/10
 Today I had the class do an assignment, called "Life is like...(Vocab. Word)" they had to decribe what life was like using one of their science vocabulary words.

Students need to write a 1 page story (minimum) using all the words from their vocabulary list. They are to start their story with "It was an incredibly sunny day...." must underline each word.

**A Vocabulary Quiz is scheduled for Wednesday September 1st

NOS Vocabulary

Today students became masters of their own words! Then they shared with other students as they went around the room collecting science words and definitions from their classmates and I. This coming week we will be writing a story using the words in context and taking a quiz over them.

Also students received their first grade print out. Please be on the lookout for those this evening.

And lastly, congratulations to the Football Wildcats for the AWESOME victory over the South Sumter Raiders!!! Go BLUE!

NOS Vocab
1. Consistent –free from variation



2. Natural - of or occurring in nature


3. Scientific Law – a statement that summarizes a pattern in nature


4. Explain - tell how


5. Contrast –all the ways they are different


6. Deduce – draw a logical conclusion


7. Predict – what will happen next


8. Hypothesis – a proposed answer to a question


9. Observation – information obtained using the five senses


10. Science – a system of knowledge about the natural world


11. Testable- series of questions, problems, or physical responses designed to determine knowledge


12. Compare – tell the ways things are alike


13. Scientific Theory – a well tested explanation for a set of observations


14. Tentative – not certain


15. Inference – to predict using observation


16. empirical evidence – evidence that can be observed by many people and all will agree as to what they observed


17. accuracy - the closeness of a measurement to the true value of what is measured


18. precision – a gauge of how exact a measurement is

Natural Illusions

The main goal of studying NOS is to give students real experiences that characterize the search for answers that scientists experience.

Today we discussed illusions and illusions in science. Some examples are : mirages, sun rise/set, size of the moon, lightning, rainbows...etc

To demonstrate illusions and try to deduce their origins, we did a short activity call the "t-illusion". The intentions is to help students realize how scientists try to reveal  the reality behind natural illusions.

Nature of Science

This week students have been learning about the nature of science, basically how science does and does not work. They have been making observations, discussing them and then drawing inferences based on the observations just like scientists do in the real world.

Pre-Testing

Today and Monday students will be taking a County Baseline Assessment.