Making a Great Science Lab Notebook

MAKING A GREAT SCIEN

CE

LAB NOTEBOOK

1. FINDING THE RIGHT BOOK• Your notebook should be a

durable hard-bound notebook•For this assignment you will be able to use duo-tangs so that you can add any information or charts that you need.

2. LABEL YOUR NOTEBOOK• This should include:• Your full name• Your teacher’s name • Your experiment titles

All entries should be in ink. This notebook should be a permanent record of your project.

3. NUMBER THE PAGES IN YOUR LAB NOTEBOOK

4. ALWAYS DATE EVERY ENTRY• Just like a journal every entry should have a date• Each entry should be brief and concise. Full sentences are

not required; however, each entry should have enough information so that it can be understood at a later date.

5. IT SHOULD BE USED DURING ALL PHASES OF YOUR PROJECT• Your notebook could include:• Ideas and thoughts for your project• Phone numbers• Contacts or sources• Book references• Supplies• Diagrams• Graphs• Figures• Charts• Sketches• calculations

6. USE IT REGULARLY AND WRITE EVERYTHING DOWN• Write everything down• Even if it seems insignificant, it

could be useful later• MAKE SURE YOU DESCRIBE THINGS

COMPLETELY, SO THAT WHEN YOU READ YOUR NOTES LATER YOU WILL BE ABLE TO UNDERSTAND IT.

7. GLUE, STAPLE, OR TAPE ANY LOOSE PAPERS

• Photocopies of important items• If you do not attach a note properly it

could be lost

8. ORGANISE YOUR NOTEBOOK• Make a table of contents,

9. INCLUDE A REFLECTIONS SECTION IN YOUR NOTEBOOK• Include:•What would I do differently next time?•What part of the experiment could be changed to improve the experimental procedure?

10. INCLUDE ANY CHANGES MADE TO YOUR PROCEDURE

• Once you begin your experiment you may find a better way to complete the procedure

• It is very important that you make note of changes to procedure1/4/05 my cat, Sheba scratched

the pots of soil, and ate 4 of my 12 plants. I will have to replant everything! I need to protect plants from the silly cat. Maybe i should try putting a screen around the pots or keep cat outside!

2/5/05 Disaster in the lab this morning. Setup manure digoestors last night in incubators, temperature was set at 25°C but came into a real mess, samples heated up too much and caps blew off. I will need to try a lower temperature to avoid this accident from happening again!!!! HUGE MESS TO CLEAN UP.....

INCLUDE ANY AND ALL OBSERVATIONS MADE DURING YOUR EXPERIMENT. • In other words, record ALL data directly in your lab

notebook. If that is not possible, then staple photocopies of data in the lab notebook.

Condition Average amount of time the chickens take (seconds

Rooster 1 month

Hen1 month

Rooster6 month

Hen6 month

Without Obstacle

46 seconds 48 seconds 41 seconds 42 seconds

With Obstacle

52 seconds 68 seconds 45 seconds 57 seconds

It is observed that in the test without the obstacle, both the roosters and hen reached the food tray at almost the same time. When tested with a log as an obstacle, the roosters were faster in reaching the food tray than the hens. The 6 month old roosters and hens were also faster than the 1 month old chickens.