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AP BIOLOGY DATE:
AP Biology Lab Reports
IntroductionOur AP Biology lab activities are designed to
provide a wide variety of experiences. They will fall into two
general categories:"observational" or "skill" labs, and
experimental labs. "Observational labs" will mainly involve
watching or observing natural
phenomena occur or performing some scientific technique, while
"experimental labs" will involve science process skills, suchas
hypothesis formation, manipulation of variables, gathering,
tabulating and graphically displaying data, etc. In college,
labreport requirements vary greatly. Some are quite rigorous and
require that a review of the pertinent scientific literature
beincluded in the introduction. Since we are greatly limited by
time in this course, our write-ups will be brief and less rigorous
thanones that you may do in college.
Prelab preparation
It is essential that you prepare for labs before coming to
class. You will be required to keep a lab notebook in which you
willwrite prelabs, record data, and note any conclusions or
thoughts that you have as you perform each lab. At the beginning of
classon lab days, prelabs will be checked. The following components
should be completed:
1. Title and date of the lab2. Purpose - 1-2 sentences
describing the major goal of the experiment3. Procedure - an easy
to follow numbered list of steps that will be performed in the
lab,
written in your own words. For labs with several parts, divide
your procedure
accordingly. You may wish to sketch diagrams to help you
visualize the steps of thelab. Once you are done, you should be
able to do your lab report without consultingwith the lab book.
4. Data - As you write your prelab, create all the data tables
you will need. Read theprocedure carefully to determine all the
information you will be recording, and organizeit neatly. Remember
to include units at the top of each column.
During the lab
1. Fill in your data tables.2. Note any changes that you make to
the procedure.3. Conclusions - Leave a space where you can jot down
notes and other thoughts during the
lab. This will help you to write your lab report later.
After the lab
Lab reports are due five days after the completion of the lab in
class. This gives you enough time to ask any questions about thelab
or get help with concepts you dont understand. Lab reports must be
typed, handwritten work will not be accepted(exception: data tables
and graphs may be done by neatly hand). 1/2 credit will be given to
lab reports that are late, up to 24hours. Remember that if you are
tardy to class the day any assignment is due, your assignment will
be counted late. After 24hours, reports will not be accepted. Keep
all returned lab reports. Labs constitute a significant portion of
the AP exams.
Title: This should indicate what the lab is all about. Be brief,
but indicate the nature of the investigation. What was the
specificquestion being investigated? Specifically, what was being
observed ?
NAME: PERIOD:
Tips for writing titles:
y All experimental labs should follow this format: "The Effect
of ______ on _________.y Be concise. (Instead of, environmental
stimuli such as light and moisture write, light and moisture).y
Always list the specific variables you tested.y Include the
scientific name of organisms involved.
Hypothesis: This is the possible explanation to the problem you
are trying to answer.
y Use an If . Then statement for your hypothesis.
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Analysis questions: In this section, put the answers to ALL
questions asked within the lab, and at the end of the lab.
Answersshould be given in complete sentences. The main body of the
questions should be in your answer. Remember, the write-up is due5
days after the labs are completed in class.
Conclusion: Here you present a summary of the data generated by
the lab. Put into your own words what the numbers or
observations tell you. How do you interpret the data or
observations in light of your hypothesis or your own expectations?
Do notmake the mistake of looking for the "right answer" and please
do not ask, "what was supposed to happen?" Nature does not lie,
but is often frustratingly difficult to figure out. In this
section you must discuss YOU
R results. If you come up with results that donot make sense,
examine your methods and materials for sources of experimental
error and describe them here. For purelyobservational exercises,
your discussion should include reactions to what you have just done
and learned. Additionally, errorshould be thoroughly discussed.
This is, perhaps, the most important part of the lab discussion.
Your discussion of error will helpthe reader decide whether or not
your experiment is valid or invalid. Note: for our purposes in this
class, measurement errors arenot acceptable because this could be
used as an excuse on every lab, and does not that you are thinking
on how the design or
execution of this experiment could be improved. It is assumed
that measurements were taken accurately. Finally at the end ofyour
conclusion, you will evaluate the value of the lab.
Tips for writing discussions:
y Refer to your tables and figures and explain important
findings. Use your data to support your statements.y Only use the
word significant if youve done a statistical analysis. (Significant
means something different to
scientists than it does in a nonscientific sense).
y Your hypotheses can be supported or not supported by the data,
they cannot be proved or disproved.y Use the impersonal tense.
(Rather than We believe . . . , write, It was found. . . .).y
Always be as specific as you possibly can be. (Instead of Most of
the time . . . , write For 7 of the 10 time intervals
examined. . . .).
y Dont describe your data as vague or inconclusive. If a trend
that you thought would exist, doesnt, that doesntmean the data are
vague. The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence.
y When describing sources of error, dont include irregularities
in the environment that you controlled. (Ex: Theflorescent lights
in our room affect your control group the same as your experimental
group, because they are on thewhole time. Therefore, theyre not a
source of error. This is why we do a control in the first
place!)
y Always be exact in your terminology. (Ex: dry choice chamber
is better than dry environment).y Be sure you have a complete
understanding of terms before you use them. (Ex: Concluding that
pill bug behavior is a
taxis because it was a response to a stimulus is incorrect.
Kinesis is also a response to a stimulus, its a randomresponse
rather than a directed one).
y Be grammatically correct with your use of the word data. Data
is the plural of datum. (If your not sure,substitute the word
numbers instead of data. Instead of, This data shows. write, These
data show . . ).
y Whenever trying to explain a behavior or an adaptation, it may
help to look at it from a natural selection perspective.(Think: How
is it an advantage to the pill bugs survival and/or reproduction to
find a moist environment?)
Be aware of what you are measuring. (A pill bugs preferences,
desires, or needs, are not measurable. Its movement, or itspresence
in a certain choice chamber, is measurable)
