Labs: 5th Grade

In general, lab reports can be completed during class time on the day the lab work is finished.  However, if a student is unable to complete the write-up in the allotted time, it may be sent home to be finished.

A lab report will usually contain the following parts:

1. Purpose
         The intent of the lab procedure; basically, why is the lab being
          performed and what is the scientist trying to learn?

2. Hypothesis
          Written in the "if...then" format, this statement sets out the
          assumed relationship between at least 2 variables.  This is the
          scientist's guess of a cause and effect dependence.  It is the
          question the lab will attempt to answer.

3. Procedure
          The steps to be performed in the lab are recorded in sequence.
          They should be clear enough to be followed by another scientist
          attempting to repeat the lab.  These are often provided for the
          student, and merely need to be copied off the board or read
          from the handout.

4. Materials
          A complete list of everything used to complete the experiment.

5. Data and Observations
          Depending upon the lab, the observations may be in a
          paragraph, graph format, or a chart.  Whichever method is
          used, this section needs to document all changes observed in a
          logical, orderly fashion.

6. Conclusion
          This will have three basic parts.  The hypothesis will be restated
          as a "when...then" statement, based on results found.  The
          results will be summarized as they relate to the "when...then"
          conclusion.  An explanation of the results is the final section.
          Here the scientist tries to explain why this happened.