Intended Audience

This remote learning lab manual was created to guide students in 100-level physical science courses toward meeting the first outcome in the science category of the Associate of Arts Oregon Transfer Degree:

Gather, comprehend, and communicate scientific and technical information in order to explore ideas, models, and solutions and generate further questions.

Tips for Success

In order to meet the desired outcome, the labs use a guided inquiry format. You will be provided with the objectives of the lab and step-by-step guidance through the process necessary to meet the objectives. To help guide your thinking and provide your instructor with information to assess your results, the lab will ask you to enter results, record progress, and answer critical thinking questions about your work. The labs are designed to challenge you. Will likely need to ask for help from your instructor at several points during each lab, and that is expected and normal. To maximize your own learning, follow these tips.

•  Start working on the labs early to provide time for questions before the due date. View the how-to videos on using spreadsheets found in the appendix before you start the first lab and review them often as needed.

• Show your work on all calculation questions. Work symbolically as long as possible and enter numbers as late into the work as possible. 

• On other questions provide full-sentence explanations of the reasoning behind your answers. The reasoning should rely on the results of your analysis and modeling work as well as additional knowledge from outside resources, such as your textbook.

Basic Structure

All of the labs follow the basic structure outlined in the example below, which also provides tips about what you are expected to provide for answers within section.

Title

This lab is designed to align with AAOT science outcome #1: Gather, comprehend, and communicate scientific and technical information in order to explore ideas, models, and solutions and generate further questions.

Materials:

• some labs require additional materials typically available to students, but most only require the items listed below
• writing utensil
• calculator
• digital device with spreadsheet program
• digital device with internet access

Objectives

1. A list of 3-6 objectives for the lab. These are the tasks you will perform, such as “Apply a kinematic equation to predict the distance travelled by an object in free-fall for a given time interval.” Pay attention to these because they when you get into the details of the lab they will remind you what you are trying to accomplish in the big picture.

Methods

Experimental Methods

In some cases, guidance in developing a model for predicting the results of experiments for comparison to  results. In all cases, guidance in analyzing by calculating statistics, creating graphs, fitting functions, and estimating uncertainties

Analysis Methods

Conclusions

You will be  asked to consider the results of their analysis and modeling and form conclusions with explanations.

Further Questions

You are guided through the process of extending their thinking to make connections between their results and other physics concepts. For example, by reducing assumptions to build a more comprehensive model, considering additional sources of error, or examining their results in the context of more general physics theories.