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|  | The following criteria should be taken into consideration when producing labs for the AP Central AP Physics Lab Project.
The labs should:
- Have a strong collaborative or cooperative learning component and include elements of experimental design. This enables students to have input into the lab activity, possibly through working as part of a research team, and to develop an understanding of independent and dependent variables, the importance of a control group, keeping other variables constant, etc.
- Be open-ended insomuch that the students are posed a question to answer and, through an inquiry-based approach, are empowered in the decision-making process of designing a lab that could lead them to potential solutions. Lab techniques are then taught in the context of answering a problem-question, requiring active student participation rather than the passive student involvement that is indicative of many "off-the-shelf/cookbook" labs.
- Exemplify the scientific method through observation, construction of hypotheses, experimental design, and the collection and analysis of student-generated quantitative data. Students should be able to communicate their results through a number of different formats -- for example, using graphs, charts, and/or tables; using oral, poster, and/or PowerPoint presentations; or producing a written paper or formal lab report. This enables students to incorporate skills that would be applicable and/or testable on the AP Physics Exam, such as dimensional analysis, the construction and interpretation of graphs, suggestions for experimental design to test a hypothesis, etc.
- Be appropriate and relevant for a particular topic, principle, or process and cover it scientifically to reinforce one of the major themes of the AP Physics course. It should not try to accomplish too many goals in one go, as this could become confusing. Rather, the lab should incorporate a capstone idea that connects it directly to the content topic in the lecture/classroom portion of the course, providing an opportunity for the experiential application of a classroom concept.
- Use supplies, test kits, and equipment that are readily available and easy to locate and/or obtained from a named supply company. The use of these materials must be cost effective and affordable to most school budgets. Ideally, the materials being used should be expedient to set up, provide reliable data, and introduce a specific lab skill or technique to students. The materials could incorporate as much of the latest apparatus, technology, or instrumentation as is feasible.
- Be able to be completed in a stated time frame, either in a certain number of class periods or over an extended time period over several weeks or as part of an ongoing study. The time frame should be clearly indicated and include where any breaks occur in the lab or how it is broken down over several class periods, days, or weeks.
- Have clear, simple, easy-to-follow instructions that work and also provide sufficient background for teachers to follow -- for example, teacher tips on using the test kit or equipment and prelab instructions and hints on the lab setup. These need to be as self-explanatory as possible so that any teacher, whatever their background, could be successful when conducting the lab, including any links to Web sites for background information and references to any similar labs found elsewhere.
- Have high levels of expectation that are appropriate for an AP- or college-level lab experience. Assessment should involve testing a student's knowledge with a higher-order level of questioning that does not just rely on recall and/or comprehension, but promotes analytical and critical thinking. For example, students could suggest further studies or investigations that can be performed as an extension to the lab they have conducted. The students could also produce their own set of discussion/analysis questions to answer in relation to the lab.
Each lab posted on AP Central should include:
- A list of desired student outcomes and learning objectives
- A teacher help section that gives background on, for example, safety and disposal hints, grading rubrics, using Excel and/or PowerPoint, and tips for good poster and/or oral presentations. This section would also include sample data/results that have previously been obtained for the lab that teachers could use as a reference.
- A reference as to how the lab links to the AP Physics curriculum
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