Labs and Peer Reviews

Labs

The goal of a physics lab is to write down observations about the world to help build up an explanation of how everything works. 

We do this by writing in 4 sections: Introduction, Procedure, Data, and Conclusion. These four sections give a consistent format so that other scientists reading our work can understand what we are talking about, offer critiques, and learn from our writing.

Introduction: 

In the introduction, we want to introduce the ideas we are starting from. There are two important sentences that will appear in nearly every introduction in any scientific paper: the question and the hypothesis. A scientific question must be answerable, and the answer to it should be an explanation. This means we are more concerned with questions about how or why than we are with questions like what, when, or where. A hypothesis is an answer to the question with a prediction of the result. It is usually formatted as an IF... THEN... statement. 

**Why do objects close to the Earth fall to the ground? I think it is because gravity effects objects. Gravity effects objects differently based on their mass, so it pulls more on heavier objects. If it applies more force to heavier objects, they will still accelerate at the same rate as smaller objects. If gravity effects objects depending on their mass, then dropping objects with different mass will make them all hit the ground at the same time. 

Procedure: 

In the procedure, describe what you are going to do before you start doing it. Make a plan for what materials you need, the steps you will take to measure data, and draw pictures of your experimental setup when it would help clarify the experiment. 

Data: 

After deciding on the procedure, collect data in a table or chart. Sometimes it is helpful to create a graph with your data, either on a computer or by hand. Once you have collected data, you will use it to write your conclusion.

Conclusion: 

In your conclusion, respond to the question from the beginning of the lab. Use data you have collected to either support or refute your hypothesis. If your data supports your hypothesis, make the connection between what the data is and what it means. If the data does not support your hypothesis, explain what that means about how the phenomena works as well. If your data is unclear, as it often is when measuring by hand, describe what you could change in another experiment so that you could collect better data. 

After finishing a lab, you will trade notebooks with another group. Read their lab and answer the questions on the peer review guide, then trade back and make any necessary edits to your lab. Turn in your lab with your peer review guide marking the first page of the current lab.