LAB TYPES

TYPES OF LABORATORY INVESTIGATIONS

TRADITIONAL

Lab Manuals: cookbook type

INQUIRY-BASED

The level of inquiry depends on the teacher guidance

INQUIRY LABS

TESTING/CONFIRMATION

Students confirm a principle through an activity in which the results are known in advance. They investigate a teacher-presented question using student designed/selected procedures.

The investigation includes identification of dependent, independent, and extraneous variables; variable control; data collection and analysis, including statistics; review and understand their findings, and compare their solutions with those of others.

Examples:

Measuring constants and properties:

• Densities of liquids and solids
• Spring constants
• Coefficients of friction
• Acceleration due to gravity
• Resistance of a conductor
• Index of refraction
• Speed of sound
• Planck’s constant

GUIDED INQUIRY

Teacher guides students in uncovering a physics concept. Students can, by collecting and graphically depicting and interpreting data, establish basic empirical laws.

Examples:

• Investigation of electric circuits through qualitative/ quantitative observations of brightness of light bulbs in a variety of arrangements.
• Students determine the rules that induce a current using a coiled wire and a magnet. Students then test their rules under different circumstances.

OPEN INQUIRY

Prediction challenges

The investigation follows a cycle of prediction, experimentation, verification and explanation

Students investigate topic-related questions that are student formulated through student designed/selected procedures.

Problem solving labs

Students receive a hypothetical scenario with a challenge to be investigated by a student designed model.

Examples:

• You have a summer job in a famous circus. The owner asks you to design an event called “The Ring of Fire”. In this attraction one of the lions should be able to jump through a flaming hoop and land in a cage on the ground. You need to determine where to place the ring and the cage assuming that the lion will jump at an angle. To check your calculation, you will model the situation using the equipment available in the classroom.
• You have a summer job with a research group studying the ecology of a rainforest in South America. To avoid walking on the delicate rainforest floor, the team members walk along a rope walkway that the local inhabitants have strung from tree to tree through the forest canopy. Your supervisor is concerned about the maximum amount of equipment each team member should carry to safely walk from tree to tree. If the walkway sags too much, the team member could be in danger, not to mention possible damage to the rainforest floor! You are assigned to set the load standards. Each end of the rope supporting the walkway goes over a branch and then is attached to a large weight hanging down. When the team member is at the center of the walkway between two trees, you need to determine how the sag of the walkway is related to the mass of the counterweights and the total mass of the team member with their equipment. To check your calculation, you will model the situation using the equipment available in the classroom.

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