I’m not sure there’s any correct answer to this: Should you choose a lab book or lab reports? I think the answer to this will entirely depend on your unique teaching situation. And I have some pointers that I think will help you to pick exactly what you need.
Lab Report Pros
First off the lab report lessens the responsibility on students to keep up with their own stuff. Lab reports are written individually as single works. This means there’s a smaller risk to losing a book, and then losing an entire school year’s worth of work.
When I was teaching in New York, there was a lab requirement in order to take the state final exam. All of the labs had to be saved on campus just in case our school was audited. It was really easy to be able to have all of these works add up in a portfolio folder as the year went on.
Individual lab reports can be written in different styles and formats as the year goes on. You can have some with color, some on graph paper. There can even be large scale projects and posters that can count as lab reports. I like that I can have students hand write some and type others. The flexibility is unmatched!
And in terms of practicality, the lab report is my favorite. Having a stack of labs to grade, to me, is a lot less daunting than a stack of books.
Lab Report Cons
Lab Reports can be a lot less organized. Because they’re individual, they can be found loose in a backpack, crumpled up or even misfiled.There’s more room for error because there are more moving parts.
They can also be tough to reflect on and grow from. Students may receive graded lab reports back and read comments. But unless you, the teacher, are asking the students to actually do something with your comments, they usually won’t. And it can actually hinder their growth in lab reporting.
Lab Book Pros
Having a pre-printed lab book with all of your students work in one place can be a great option. Students are responsible for keeping up with just one thing – the lab book. You may even choose to have your students leave their lab books in your classroom, which can eliminate the chance of them being lost completely.
If you plan ahead, you can have all of your work DONE for the whole year. No need to make last minute copies or scramble to get things done. You can also skip over labs and move ahead, or even come back to old labs as the year moves along. It’s easy to change your plans very quickly because the copies are made.
You could put college-level responsibility on your students as well. You can have them sign and date the books as they go. OR you can do the “this lab book must be completed by the end of the course” and let kids go and work at their own pace. Honestly, I kind of hate that idea from a safety standpoint, but if you have capable kids, I love the challenge that can bring!
Lab Book Cons
The con of the lab book is that if it is lost or ruined, all of the work is gone. ALL OF IT. It also limits you in terms of format. Whether it’s a preprinted bound book or a composition notebook, you are stuck with what you have. Unless you’re willing to deal with the glue and staples, then you can add in things as you go.
My preference – a hybrid
Since I can’t choose lab book or lab reports, I sort of do a hybrid of the two. I’ve put together all 41 of my labs into a full lab book. There is a lot of convenience to planning all the labs before the school year begins. BUT due to my formative teaching years being in a place where labs were collected and potentially audited I don’t use books for the students. I prefer to have the labs planned, but print the pages of that lab book on demand. Then I can give the students just what they need, there’s a smaller risk for loss and I can change things up on a whim.
For example, I was once planning on doing my Like Dissolves Like lab, but I didn’t have a few of the chemicals prepped beforehand. It was going to be a huge pain to get that together at the last minute, so I switched to the Penny Drop lab quite quickly. I worked well because of my lesson planning schedule and the fact that I prep all my copies very early. (I’ll chat about that soon!)
How I can help
Whether you choose a lab book or lab reports, I have two things that can help you. I first recommend getting a rough plan of your labs before the school year begins. Begin with my chemistry curriculum outline. This will show you all the labs I do and how they fit into my curriculum. Next is my chemistry lab book. This is my collection of 41 lab activities for chemistry that will last you the whole school year!
