Unit 1: Scientific Investigation - Chapter 3: Lab Reports & Evaluating Results

Vocabulary-
● Precision: how consistent and exact your measurements are
● Accuracy: how close to the actual value your measurement is0
● Title: lets the reader know what the investigation was about
● Purpose: a brief description to answer the question, “What was the purpose of this
experiment?” or “What is the question I’m trying to answer?”
● Background Information: definitions of key words and explanation of key concepts
● Hypothesis: the predictions you were testing
● Materials and Equipment: a list of the materials and equipment necessary to carry out
the experiment. You could even add a sketch or description of the setup, if needed
● Procedure: a step-by-step description of how to carry out the experiment
● Data: all the measurements and observations you made during the experiment. Data
should be presented in an organized way, such as in tables, graphs, or drawings, and
must be accurate and precise
● Conclusion: a summary of what you learned from your experiment, whether or not your
results support your hypothesis, any errors, and questions for more experiments
● Estimation: a rough guess of a measurement using reason and observation
● Rounding Numbers or Estimating: giving a number a nearby value, as we do in math
● Unbiased: having no special interest in the outcome of the experiment, and only using
facts to come to a conclusion.

Activity Ideas- save fred activity, write basic report on it, make posters detailing report process

Quiz-
1. What is the difference between precision and accuracy?
2. What does a hypothesis tell you in a lab report?
3. What is the purpose of a procedure in a lab report?
4. What should be included in a conclusion?
5. Why might someone be critical and/or disbelieving of a scientific finding published by
someone else?
6. Describe a situation where you might need to estimate or round when gathering data.
7. Jessica and Dan are doing a science experiment to see whether chocolate ice cream or
vanilla ice cream has higher sugar. Jessica is testing both equally, while Dan is
guessing for his chocolate numbers, because he hates chocolate ice cream. What is
Dan showing an example of?