(How to make a perfect report)

 Should be detailed! I should be able to tell what you tested – Fertilizer, Acid Rain or Crowding  Good example – “How does watering with different concentrations of fertilizer impact the growth of radish seeds?”  Bad example – “What does crowding do?”

 If…then…because statement  I should tell what you think is going to happen to the height and health of the radishes  DO NOT WRITE – I think that…  Good Example – If we water our radishes with different concentrations of acid rain, then the radish with 50% will grow the least and the control will grow the best, because acid rain is bad for plants.  Bad Examples – I think acid rain will effect radish growth. orIf acid rain effects growth, then …

 (Pt 1)PARAGRAPH form – describe the independent variable, dependent variable, constants (at least 5) and control group. Describe why you need a control group!  (Pt 2)NUMBERED LIST – describe your procedures. Someone should be able to repeat your experiment EXACTLY based on what you wrote. ◦ Bad Example - Plant radishes. Water and measure every day. Collect data

 You will turn in green data table – both front and back should be completely filled in  You need to make a graph (more details in a minute)  In the lab report, you need to describe qualitative data in sentences

 Describe trends in the data – related to your independent variable. ◦ Good Example – As the number of seeds per hole increased, the health decreased. More seeds cause the plants to be wilty, floppy and a little shorter. ◦ Bad Example – As the days increased, the height increased.  Compare with another group in the class who had the same environmental condition.

 MOST IMPORTANT PART!  WORTH 15 POINTS  Includes three sections ◦ Evaluating the hypothesis ◦ Describing errors ◦ Science context

 Re-state your hypothesis – what did you expect to happen?  Describe whether it was supported or not supported  Prove it with data. Don’t just say “my data table proves it” put actual data in the conclusion!

 EVERY group has errors. There are two kinds – Mistakes (ex- over/under watering, pulling out a plant, putting the wrong water in, planting too many seeds, the control died) - Human Error (ex – not perfect measuring of water, not perfect measuring of heights, skipping the weekends, touching it too much)  Describe what the error is, AND how it impacted the results

 What did you learn and how does this relate to what we’ve been learning in class.  We are in our ecology unit. This should relate to pollution, competition, ideal growing conditions, producers, autotrophs…etc. Just saying this relates to ecology is not enough.

 Clean up radishes  Calculate averages on data table  Make graph  Data Analysis – compare data with another group  Post lab questions