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Overview
Here is a collection of overall tips offered by the AP Biology Teacher Discussion Group. You can find links to more specific tips for Labs 1-12 under "More."
Question: "How important is doing all 12 AP Labs? I know one essay question is lab oriented, but by doing all of the labs, do students have an advantage on the exam?"
Answer: "I have found that it is important to do all 12 labs or labs that cover the same principles. If you look at some of the released tests you see a number of questions on the multiple-choice section that deal directly with material from the labs. I do not know about the latest version of the test but I would think the emphasis would be similar. I make it a point to do all the labs and review all the labs prior to the exam. You can go to my Web site for my syllabus as well as for links to other sites. The AP Biology Brooks School Web site can be found under "See also." If you follow the link you will find some other pages with syllabi."
-- Bob Heun, Brooks School, North Andover, Massachusetts. 2/17/99
Tip: "My copy of the student lab manual gives the teacher permission to make a classroom set of lab manuals, which I did. I let the students take them home the night before we do a lab, so that they can read over the lab several times. I want them to come into class with a good understanding of what they will be doing in the lab. One book that you may want them to buy is the Cliff Notes AP Biology Study Guide. My senior calls it her AP Bible. The students who take and pass the AP Exam this year could sell the guide at a reduced price to the students who take the course next year. If you have Internet access in your classroom, I would make use of it. I do, and my AP students spend time on the Internet doing problem sets on the University of Arizona site."
-- Jo Ann Burman, Andress High School, El Paso, Texas. 4/14/99
Question: "Does anyone use any of the audiovisuals available to help with labs/ makeup labs?"
Answer: "We had used the Ward's with the videos and I must say that it was a great help and the students loved them. It also worked great if a student had missed a lab. They could go right to the video to see how to do the lab step by step. Labs were also easy to follow. I think our favorite was 'Transpiration Lab.' It was easy and students saw immediate results. I highly recommend it."
-- Regina Sourwine, Lyme Central School, Chaumont, New York. 7/19/00
Question: "How many of you still require the detailed essay-type lab write up for all 12 of the AP labs? The students would rather just answer the questions and do the graphs, but I'm not sure they put enough thought into it that way. What do you think?"
Answer 1: "I have my students write full lab reports. If they want to feel like scientists, then they need to do the whole lab. I find they really spend more time thinking about their results this way. This year they also will be keeping a bound lab book, which I will collect from time to time. In the past I had them keep a notebook with their data pages and observations, etc., but they kept losing pages."
-- Holly Ellerton, Suffield Academy, Suffield, Connecticut. 8/28/00
Answer 2: "Below is the format I require on all labs from all of my students. Naturally, I modify grading for the different grade levels, but grades 7-12 are required to follow the same format. That way, by the time I have them for the third or fourth course, they know what I expect of them. Labs and write-up labs will be a major part of each student's grade. Although each student will receive a prewritten lab to use during the laboratory process, he or she will also be required to do a follow-up lab write up in the following format:
- Title and Date
- Introduction: briefly describe concepts covered in lab; list lab objectives
- Materials: list materials and equipment used in lab
- Procedure: write a brief, numbered procedure to show your understanding of the instructions
- Data: construct tables and charts to present the data that has been collected; title and label all tables and charts completely
- Data Analysis: construct, title, and label graphs to represent all data; answer all questions from the lab handout and include all equations and calculations
- Discussion and Conclusions: discuss the results of the lab and any conclusions regarding those results; compare and contrast results with objectives; explain any unexpected results and why those results may have been obtained."
-- Frank R. Simpson, Miles High School, Miles, Texas. 8/28/00
Answer 3: "How many lab write ups? I'll give you the quintessential answer -- how many do you need? One of the course objectives and one of the four essays involves the ability to create a complete lab. The full essay write up is the way to accomplish this. I usually have my students do about three or four, as they have had intense work in writing labs during their younger years. I would recommend that students do full write-ups until you are comfortable with their lab-writing skills. Instead of the 12 labs, you may choose to have them write up extensions to the basic labs or to some other, simpler lab. After all, every full lab they write is another full lab we have to read."
-- Israel Solon, Greenhill School, Dallas, Texas. 8/28/00
Answer 4: "Another view: one of my students several years ago finished the photosynthesis lab, then said, 'Now I'll go home and write the lab report, and find out what was going on in the lab.' I think many students are so involved with 'cook booking' the lab that they miss the POINT of the lab. Doing a formal lab report MAKES them think and analyze their data. In addition, as I have mentioned before, a rep at an AP seminar that I went to some time ago said that some colleges are requiring a lab notebook to ensure that the AP student had a real college-level lab experience before they would be granted credit for the lab portion of their course. Food for thought¿."
-- Linda Wichers, Seaholm High School, Birmingham, Michigan. 8/28/00
Answer 5: "After everyone has had some experience writing the first two formal labs, I tell them they only have to do informal labs after they've received two consecutive A's on their next reports. They're motivated to do a really great job and I gradually have fewer and fewer formal write ups to grade."
-- Dottie Bonnett, Olympic High School, Silverdale, Washington. 8/28/00
Answer 6: "Am I the only one confessing to requiring only that the students fill in the blanks for the 12 AP labs? To adapt a phrase used by other 12-step groups, 'My name is Sharon and I do not require very many full lab reports.'
I used to have the students write full reports for almost every lab, but no more. I was not effectively grading and returning their papers. It was sometimes three weeks (gasp -- yes it's true) until I returned their papers. Sometimes I did not grade the papers, just gave credit/no credit. I write this so that the newer AP Biology teachers on this listserv realize that there are some of us old-timers who do not spend hours and hours a week grading reports.
If you are new, I suggest that you do some early reports, using fill in the blank. As your students begin to understand what is expected in lab, then ask for a full report. It should be an easy lab for the reports. This will help save your sanity so that you will not quit or need antidepressants by February."
-- Sharon Hamilton, Fort Worth Country Day School, Fort Worth, Texas. 8/29/00
Answer 8: "Here's my ploy -- I DO require a full-blown lab notebook and grade the heck out of the first one, and the second one if necessary. By then, the students have usually 'gotten it' and I feel it's mostly between them, their AP score, and their university after that! For labs 3-12, I pre-select about five items per lab to focus on, such as a graph, answer to a question, etc., and I 'spot check' their lab notebooks. I keep their lab notebooks three weeks as well. They have two notebooks, and we trade every three weeks so that they always have one to work in and I always have one to grade during Cowboy games! I get the grades I want through pre-lab quizzes and lab exams. I also confess I used to grade every word of every notebook, but my scores haven't suffered since I switched to this kinder, gentler system."
-- Rene McCormick, Carroll, High School, Southlake, Texas. 8/29/00
Answer 9: "Yes, my students write a full lab report for all the labs. As I said in a previous post, this is really the best way to force students to actually come to grips with, to digest, and to analyze the lab. My confession is that we usually do about 9, not the full 12. I do require that all labs be typed -- this makes grading much easier than coping with scrawls in a lab notebook. Even still, it takes a while; students know that they will not get the labs back right away. I teach 40-45 students each year."
-- Leslie Haines, Walter Williams High School, Burlington, North Carolina. 8/29/00
Answer 10: "You are not alone -- I, too, have been in awe of the recent discussion about lab notebooks. I do have students write a few sentences -- a paragraph describing the before-lab objectives. I'm also lucky enough to belong to the Biology place. Students have to submit the lab quiz before they perform the lab. My concern has always been one of them not reading and understanding what they are doing before performing the lab -- these two things seem to help."
-- Heda O'Brien, The Bullis School, Potomac, Maryland. 8/29/00
Answer 11: "For the first time last year, I did not require a formal write up for all labs. That was a mistake. The students were careless in their work and did not learn as much as when they have to go through the entire thought process of a lab report. This year it is back to full reports."
-- Thomas Strayhorn, Snyder High School, Snyder, Texas. 8/30/00
Answer 12: "Here's my pattern for labs. The kids will write a pre-lab, which is due the day of the actual activity. This consists of an informal condensed version of the procedure. It shows me they are prepared and is a quick and easy reference for them to follow as they work through the steps of the lab. The following day I collect the lab books with completed answers/graphs, etc. Within a day or two, they are given an in-class lab exam that requires them to write their own controlled experiment based upon the lab we just finished (with a variation on the same theme). Only two full-length, typed 'formal' lab reports are required of them, and that is Lab#7 and either #4 or #5.
Last year (my first AP year), I found that my predictions were accurate: hit them hard with the heavy stuff early, as senioritis is impossible to cure once spring break looms on the horizon. Besides, they learn the concepts well enough just doing the labs, and being tested on them regularly. I assign two other research papers during the year, and that's enough formal papers for an already very busy course."
-- Anne Brewer, Mooresville High School, Mooresville, Indiana. 8/30/00
Answer 13: "I agree with Thomas about the need for students to do something with the lab in order to learn it. I require students to do formal lab write ups on almost all of the labs. They don't write up the Genetics of Drosophila lab or the Hardy-Weinberg lab. We learned the lesson well the year of the first molecular biology lab essay question. We did that lab last -- just before the exam. Two of the lab classes were required to write up the lab, the other was given the option. Most of those students who had the option did not write up the lab and felt inadequate to answer the essay question. You may have other ways to make them manipulate and analyze the data besides a formal lab report, but I have found that my students don't learn it without some assignment.
Getting the labs back in a timely fashion is a priority for us. In some cases it may be a week or more, but they all get graded and returned. Grading lab reports is a pain. It is not my favorite thing to do. However, doing it or some lab evaluation comes with the job. By the way, since we are doing so many labs in a compressed time period, we have the students turn in separate reports rather than using a lab book."
-- Tricia Glidewell, Marist School, Atlanta, Georgia. 8/31/00
Answer 14: "I too don't feel any desire to tediously grade those reports (even though my classes are small). I have my students prepare a lab abstract. They are asked to explain in paragraph form the purpose for the lab and give a general description of the design and rationale of the experiment. They are not to dwell on minutia like 'add 2 mL of water' or 'let equilibrate for 20 minutes.' Instead they are to focus on what elements will be controlled, what items will be varied, how we will measure results, and what we expect results to be. They turn in their abstracts well in advance of the actual lab so I can tell that they have some clue about what they are going to be doing. Then, during lab they can add data tables, etc. for their results and finally add an analysis and conclusion section that includes questions from the lab book plus other items. These three parts are then turned in as the completed lab paper. I like this system. When I had the students write out materials, procedures, etc., I felt that they were just copying down stuff without ever getting the big picture of what we were trying to accomplish."
-- Sharon Williams, Water Valley High School, Water Valley, Texas. 9/1/00
Answer 15: "My wife, Carol, and I have been working on a form of assessment that has broad applicability for science classes -- it's the mini-poster. We've found them to be very successful in our classes and enthusiastically received by other teachers. The basic concept is to emulate the poster sessions that take place at professional society meetings.
I used to have my students present posters at the end of a nine-week research project, but I wanted to find a way to revisit this more intensely for each and every lab. John Jungck at Beloit College has his students prepare a full poster for every lab but I feel that this is too much for high school. To adapt we scaled things down a bit. First: The 'poster board' is two file folders glued together to create a mini 'science fair' backboard template. Second: Headings (with instructions for what should be included in each section) are glued permanently to the miniposter. Third: While they are completing the lab and afterwards, each lab group prepares their miniposter using Post-it notes of various sizes, small computer graphics, and art rendered by students (colored pencils are provided). Each member of the team usually takes responsibility for specific sections. The Post-its fit in each section. If the students want to include graphics or printed graphs, they cut these out and glue them to a small Post-it. This allows for some serious creativity in the presentation. The Post-its allow the miniposter to be revised several times and to be used over for each lab. Generally, this takes very little class time after they are familiar with the process. Fourth: The presentation. Just like a regular poster session the students then move about through the room and evaluate one another's posters using a score sheet tied to a rubric. They ask questions, answer questions, and interact. Each person has to evaluate at least three or four other posters (they are awarded points on their evaluations). One member of the team has to answer questions about their poster. Fifth: Reflection. The students can now incorporate changes to their poster that they feel will make their presentation stronger in response to student criticism. Since the time and effort invested is modular (per section) and only on Post-its, the students are usually eager to revise their posters before I get to them. By this time there is not much for me to grade - - they are usually excellent so it takes very little of my time. If I schedule 45 minutes for presentation, revision, and final grading, it is usually enough time.
We've tried this with sophomores, AP students, junior high students, adults, teachers, and others. It really seems to work well. My experience is that the students find this form of expression less threatening than a formal lab report. With this form of assessment I prefer to have each group working on different questions for each lab-this really gets the discussions going as they present to one another."
-- Brad Williamson, Olathe East High School, Olathe, Kansas. 9/1/00
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