ASSESSMENT

ASSESSMENT PRACTICES

Evaluation of student learning in physics should include assessment of skills developed in laboratory activities as well as the essential knowledge acquired during these activities as summarized by the Learning Objectives: Essential Knowledge + Science Practices

• Pre-Lab Questions/Quiz
• Lab Report: Formal or Informal (see below for an example of the elements of a lab report)
• Test Questions: do not only assess skills and content learned in the lab, but also communicate the importance of laboratory work to students.
• Lab Practicum: lab investigations used as summative assessments. See attachments below for a couple of examples.

RUBRICS FOR INQUIRY LABS

It is recommended that you use a rubric to score the students' lab investigations. Rubrics can be used by students and teachers for different purposes.

The AP Science Practices can be used as the basis to build your rubrics as they clearly describe the knowledge and skills that students should learn and demonstrate when completing a learning activity.

LAB JOURNAL

Example of the elements that my students are required to include:

I. Lab Investigation Question

The problem or task to be investigated is written as a question by the student. It provides the overall direction for the laboratory investigation and must be addressed in the conclusion.

* If the investigation involves a prediction, the students know that:

A Hypothesis is a general belief, pattern, model, or rule developed from observations. Hypotheses can be used to develop predictions.

A Prediction is a statement that describes the outcome of a specific experiment (prior to conducting the experiment). Predictions must be based on

the hypothesis being tested.

Their statement should be written as: IF (hypothesis) is true, AND (experiment), THEN (prediction).

II. Equipment and Equipment Setup

• A list of all laboratory equipment used in the investigation
• A detailed and labeled diagram to illustrate the configuration of the equipment

III. Step-by-Step Procedure

• Neatly explained in a numbered sequence
• Identify and name all experimental variables
• Briefly describe how the independent variable is controlled

Hint: your audience is not necessarily composed of Physics types! Someone who was not present during the lab should be able to understand how the experiment was performed and be able to reproduce the results by reading your procedure.

IV. Data

• What data needs to be taken?
• How many trials do you have to include?
• How is data reported?

Hint: Be sure to clearly distinguish between measured quantities and calculated quantities. In this section you will only record your measurements.

V. Data Analysis

• How do you interpret data?
• Include graphs and analysis of graphs as appropriate
• Show all calculations from graphs as appropriate.
• State the meaning of the slope and discuss the significance of the y-intercept when appropriate
• Calculations for any theoretical values should be neatly shown
• A sample calculation must appear describing the method of obtaining all derived values
• The comparison between experimental results and theoretical values should be done by finding percent errors
• If the results are obtained by two different ways, the comparison should be done by calculating percent differences

VI. Conclusions

• Does the evidence support your claim? Explain why or why not.
• Discuss any questionable data or surprising results
• Explain the possible source of any error or questionable results
• Discuss the uncertainties in your measurements and how they affected the reliability of your results
• Suggest changes in experimental design that might test your explanations

CHECKLIST FOR STUDENTS

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