Writing Up Lab Reports like Scientists

This week as we transitioned into informational writing students got to try their hand at a force and motion experiment.  After using lab report booklets to record the question, "Will the car go further off the ramp on the carpet or bare floor? students came up with a hypothesis before deciding on step-by-step procedures.  Then we had lots of fun testing out our ideas by conducting the experiment on our classroom rug and then on the art room floor.  Kids were very engaged in our new type of writing and later in the week we added our materials list, clarified our results from the experiment and learned how to add diagrams and a conclusion.

A student records his question and hypothesis before beginning the experiment.

This group is measuring their first attempt at the car traveling off the ramp on carpet.

Using teamwork to see how far the car went when it left the ramp.  Our tape measures came in handy for this!

As a class we brainstormed and then revised our procedural steps to be clear and direct.