Labs for Experiments, Variables, and Relationships

 

Lesson Plans || Learning Outcomes and Activities || Teacher Notes || Labs

 

We have a collection of ~150 labs in the Laboratory section of the website. Each lab was intended to be used with a lab notebook where students report their data and findings and state their conclusion with supporting evidence and reasoning. The intent was to provide a relatively clear purpose (or question) to students that they would need to address AND to limit the amount of directions. The hope is that the purpose and students' ability to design a procedure would drive the lab activity (in contrast to a detailed set of step-by-step procedures being the driving force of students' activity). As such, each of our labs comes with a Question and Purpose and a short paragraph describing what should be included in students' lab report. On occassion, students are also provided a graphic organizer, data table, or other item to be taped into their notebook. The following pages may be useful for those teachers who wish to adopt or simply trial our Labs with a Purpose approach:

Our Thoughts on the Approach || About Lab Notebooks || Teacher Guides for All Labs

 

Lab 1 - Dune Buggy Challenge

Question:
How much time does it take a Dune Buggy to travel a specified distance?
 
Purpose:
To collect distance-time data for a Dune Buggy car in order to predict the time it takes the Dune Buggy to travel a specified distance.
 
A complete lab report includes a Title, Purpose, Data section, and Conclusion section. The Data should include a table with column headings for the two measured quantities. The Data should also a taped-in plot of the two quantities. And finally, the Data section should include a predicted time and a measured time. The Conclusion should include a Claim (that answers "the question"), Evidence (references to specific data in the Data section that supports your claim), and Reasoning (several sentences to a paragraph of writing in which you logically explain why the evidence provides support for your claim).
 


 

Lab 2 - Bounce Height

Question:
How is the bounce height of a ball related to the release height of the ball?
 
Purpose:
To determine the type of relationship (linear, quadratic, inverse, or constant) that relates the bounce height to the release height.
 
A complete lab report includes a Title, Purpose, Data section, and Conclusion section. The Data should include a table with column headings for measured and calculated quantities. The rows of the table should include data for several trials (at least 5). The Data should also include a Logger Pro graph (taped in) with a linear or curve fit and associated equation. The Conclusion should include a Claim (that answers "the question"), Evidence (references to specific data in the Data section that supports your claim), and Reasoning (several sentences to a paragraph of writing in which you logically explain why the evidence provides support for your claim).




 

Lab 3 – Paragraph Graphs

Question:
How is the width of a block of text related to the height of the text?
 
Purpose:
To determine the type of relationship (linear, quadratic, inverse, or constant) that relates the height of a block of text to the width of the text.
 
A complete lab report includes a Title, Purpose, Data section, and Conclusion section. The Data should include a table with column headings for measured quantities. The rows of the table should include data for the six paragraphs. The Data should also include a Logger Pro graph (taped in) with a linear or curve fit and associated equation. The Conclusion should include a Claim (that answers "the question"), Evidence (references to specific data in the Data section that supports your claim), and Reasoning (several sentences to a paragraph of writing in which you logically explain why the evidence provides support for your claim).
 


 

Lab 4 - Stopping Distance

Question:
How is the stopping distance of a skidding car related to its pre-skid speed?
 
Purpose:
To determine the type of relationship (linear, quadratic, inverse, or constant) that relates the stopping distance of a skidding car to its pre-skid speed.
 
A complete lab report includes a Title, Purpose, Data section, and Conclusion section. The Data should include completed version of the provided table. The Data should also include a Logger Pro graph (taped in) with a linear or curve fit and associated equation. The Conclusion should include a Claim (that answers "the question"), Evidence (references to specific data in the Data section that supports your claim), and Reasoning (several sentences to a paragraph of writing in which you logically explain why the evidence provides support for your claim).
 

 

Lab 5 - Does Mass Matter?

Question:
How is the period of a pendulum related to the mass of the pendulum?
 
Purpose:
To determine the type of relationship (linear, quadratic, inverse, or constant) that relates the period of a pendulum's motion to the mass of the bob.
 
A complete lab report includes a Title, Purpose, Data section, and Conclusion section. The Data should include a table with column headings for measured quantities. The rows of the table should include data for several masses (10 g to 500 g). The Data should also include a Logger Pro graph (taped in) with a linear or curve fit and associated equation. The Conclusion should include a Claim (that answers "the question"), Evidence (references to specific data in the Data section that supports your claim), and Reasoning (several sentences to a paragraph of writing in which you logically explain why the evidence provides support for your claim).




 

Also Available ...

Physics teachers may find the following for-sale tools to be useful supplements to our Lesson Plan and Pacing Guide section:

 

1. Task Tracker Subscription (annual purchase)
   A subscription allows teachers to set up classes, add students, customize online assignments, view student progress/scores, and export student scores. Task Tracker accounts allow your students to begin assignments in class or at school and to finish them at home. View our Seat and Cost Calculator for pricing details.
    
2. The Solutions Guide
   We publish a free curriculum with >200 ready-to-use Think Sheets for developing physics concepts. The Solutions Guide is a download containing the source documents, PDFs of source documents, and answers/solutions in MS Word and PDF format. An expanded license agreement is included with the purchase. (Cost: $25 download)
    
3. Teacher Presentation Pack
   This is a large collection of downloadable content packed with nearly 190 Microsoft PowerPoint slide decks, the corresponding Lesson Notes (as PDF and fully-modifiable MS Word format), about 170 animations (in .gif, .png, and .mp4 file formats), a countless number of ready-to-use images (including the original source documents that would allow for easy modification of those images), and a license that allows teachers to modify and use all the content with their classes on password-protected sites (such as course management systems). (Cost: $40 download)
    
4. Question Bank
   We distribute a Question Bank that includes more than 9300 questions neatly organized according to topic. The Question Bank is the perfect tool for busy teachers or new teachers. Even if you don't use the website with your classes, the Question Bank will assist you in quickly putting together quizzes, tests and other documents with high-quality questions that target student's conceptions of physics principles. And if you do use The Physics Classroom website, the Question Bank is the perfect complement to the materials found at the website. (Cost: $25 download)