Getting students to write is tough enough, but trying to get them to write in science is a whole different ball game. Because there’s so many kids with so many different needs, it’s important to provide differentiation in lab reporting.
And that in itself can be really tough. The kids are all doing the same lab experiment. If they were doing different things at the same time for the sake of differentiation, it would be a logistical nightmare. And don’t even get me started on the safety concerns there…
Most people would give up just on that sentiment alone. But here you are, reading a blog post to get another teacher’s opinion on differentiation in lab reporting. A+ for you!
Everyone still does the same lab activity
Not just for your sanity, but also for the student’s safety, everyone is going to be doing the same lab experiment. There’s absolutely no way that in a standard high school setting you could differentiate what they do in a lab.
Now you could differentiate roles within a lab group. That’s actually a great idea! Let’s say you have some English Language Learners or Special Ed students that can’t take on a whole lab activity for any number of reasons. Grouping them with some clear guidelines could be really great for them. It can reduce the size of the task for these kids, and help them with communication and socialization.
Rigorous Lab Activities
Now the classic way to differentiate is with the level of rigor. And again, that can be hard with a room full of kids doing the same lab. This is why all of the rigor I incorporate in my labs comes from lab reporting, not the lab activity itself. Putting the rigor in the lab REPORTING gives you all the flexibility you need to differentiate!
I like to give really simple labs. This way all my kids can do them. It’s also easier for me to plan and execute, since the materials and procedures are very basic. Then I give my kids different requirements when it comes to the lab reporting.
Conclusion Paragraphs
I want my students to learn the art of lab reporting. We all know that lab reports have certain requirements, and we don’t want to skimp out on that! Data and observations truly deepen the lab experience. I find that the best way to differentiate lab reporting is in what I require for the conclusion paragraph.
Standard/Grade Level Students
My standard kid is going to get a document called “How to Write a Chemistry Lab Report.” In that, there’s an outline of how ALL the parts of a lab report should be written. This goes from the introduction all the way to the conclusion. Most of the time, these kids are going to write just a conclusion. For them, it’s as horrifying as writing a whole essay for their English or history class.
I have them write 8(ish) sentences summarizing their lab experiment. There are questions to answer and sentence starters to get them going. The paragraph is super thorough. Students have to describe the purpose of the lab activity, their procedure, and results. They also have to provide some analysis of their results.
Above Grade Level
Now if I have some Above Grade Level students, they would likely be told to write out a classic lab report. Maybe they’d have to type it up. There are instructions for every part of the lab report, which allows for flexibility. Sometimes I can require the students to write an introduction and conclusion only, but I can also do a full lab report if I like.
Below Grade Level or High Intervention
Some kids need extra help – that’s just the reality of it. When my students need a little extra help, I cut down on the complexity of the writing I require. Nothing else. The kids will still have the same learning experience. The kids will just write up their lab report with less detail.
I do this by breaking down the conclusion paragraph into questions instead. Yes, the will likely still have some post lab questions to answer. These questions are separate. They’re pretty much the same thing that the standard/grade level kids will have for their conclusion.
But instead of writing this all out as a paragraph that has to flow from one sentence to the next, this task is much smaller. The kids will write the conclusion paragraph piecewise. Answering just one prompt at a time helps the kids to see the 8 sentence conclusion as 8 or so smaller tasks. For some kids, I’ll even cut down the conclusion prompts to just 5 or 6 instead.
It doesn’t have to be a headache
I know that teaching is tough. Especially differentiation! And on top of that, the differentiation in a lab setting is even tougher. Give this lab reporting differentiation strategy a try and see how it goes.
