QBIC General Biology Lab

 OBJECTIVE - To write a lab report consistent with the guidelines of the journal Ecology 

TAXONOMY LEVEL - Bloom’s highest 3 levels

LEARNING ACTIVITY -Half of a lab session spent discussing how lab reports are written, complete with good and bad examples, extensive resources for citation. Special library session in the summer held on accessing online resources

FORMATIVE ASSESSMENT - First draft of first lab report is ungraded. Student must meet with me to go over corrections

SUMMATIVE ASSESSMENT - 3 lab reports per semester. Reports are 35% of final grade. Students are given Ecology journal guidelines (from official website)

Learning ActivitiesLibrary session on finding scientific resources in the school library

Students exposed to different kinds of science literature in Journal Club

In-class session on ‘how to write a good lab report’

In-class and homework writing assignments

Summer before schoolyear

From the beginning of the fall

Second week of lab

Periodically until lab report assignment given

Students do fictional search on given literature topic

Students read, analyze and present peer-reviewed papers

Students provided paper, relate each section to requirements

Students provided data set, write conclusions paragraph

Formative AssessmentsIn-class and homework assignments where students analyze ‘results’ sections and write brief conclusions, essentially practicing writing different parts of a lab report.

First draft is extensively reviewed by me, but not graded. Each student mandatorily meets with me to go over corrections.

Weekly until lab report assignment

Two weeks before final draft is due

Students given, graph and asked to analyze. Same is done with different parts of a published paper

The meeting with me is one-on-one and covers grammar, structure and scientific writing styles

Students are given example lab report with indications on appropriate writing style

Summative AssessmentsLab Report on nutrient flow in a contained ecosystem written in the style of the journal ‘Ecology’. Three lab reports are written per semester worth 35% of the final grade.

Part of lab report grading rubric

TimelineRe-analyze unit objectives in the context of the ‘Pentagon’ (the classes that the lab is connected to)

Create objectives/concept map linking all objectives and course activities to each other and other courses in the Pentagon

Apply backward design approach to Genetics Journal Club

Fidelity assessments of freshman and sophomore courses to QBIC program and standardized exam objectives

July 2012

July 2012

August 2012

FALL 2012