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Re: FAST: exemplary middle school science



I think I will keep using the word "experiment" for the lab exercises my
students do. Miriam-Webster says...

Experiment: <snip> c : an operation carried out under controlled
conditions in order to discover an unknown effect or law, to test or
establish a hypothesis, or to illustrate a known law. <snip>

I think a student experiment clearly falls under the second and third of
these. Of course we as teachers might be thinking mostly of the third, but
the second is not too much of a stretch. I would even maintain the first is
partly true... it's often true for the student. Even though the students
have already read or heard about how it's "supposed to work," the concept is
often still "unknown" to them until they actually experience it. I have
often had students say, "I didn't understand it until I did the experiment."

I had to think a bit about this once Hugh challenged my wording. It hit me
strongly because I insist students use the word experiment rather than lab
when they write their papers (as opposed to lab reports). I am trying to
get them to write papers as scientists as opposed to writing reports as
students. I want them to learn the language and the format as well as the
science. I frequently strike out wording such as "In this lab we were
supposed to..." and I write down the comment, "quit writing like a student."

It is obvious my student experiments are serving multiple purposes. They
are getting hands on experience with tools and instruments. They are
learning how to record data. They are learning how to analyze data. They
are learning how to report their data and conclusions. And they are they
are attempting "to illustrate a know law" so they might understand the whole
concept better.

As I stated before, I think it is good that some of the experiments fail to
illustrate the known law as well as we might like. That lets them grapple
with errors, uncertainty, and experimental design. But I also think it is
important that most of the experiments do illustrate the known law fairly
well. This illustration is not my only goal, but it's a pretty important
goal.

Michael D. Edmiston, Ph.D. Phone/voice-mail: 419-358-3270
Professor of Chemistry & Physics FAX: 419-358-3323
Chairman, Science Department E-Mail edmiston@bluffton.edu
Bluffton College
280 West College Avenue
Bluffton, OH 45817