In this course, you will analyze problem-based learning (PBL) science activities and how you can support students in creating a lab report that follows a scientific method. The lab report structure you learn will guide and enhance scientific investigations in your lessons while improving your students' scientific thinking.
This teacher professional development course will teach you how problem-based learning (PBL), also called problem-based education, can be used as the basis for engaging lab experiments in your science classroom. Through a standardized lab report format, you can plan for lab activities that teach a scientific method to your students and assist them in developing their critical thinking skills. The course will equip you with the necessary tools to utilize structured scientific investigations to support student learning through a lab report template that you will use in upcoming lessons.
The course also comes with a downloadable PDF of the course content and a "walk through the lab report" resource, and a lab report template with a sample that you can provide to students for science investigations.
Requirements:
Hardware Requirements:
- This course can be taken on either a PC, Mac, or Chromebook.
Software Requirements:
- PC: Windows 10 or later.
- Mac: macOS 12 or later.
- Browser: The latest version of Google Chrome or Mozilla Firefox is preferred. Microsoft Edge and Safari are also compatible.
- Microsoft Word Online
- Editing of a Microsoft Word document is required in this course. You may use a free version of Microsoft Word Online, or Google Docs if you do not have Microsoft Office installed on your computer. Model Teaching can provide support for this.
- Adobe Acrobat Reader
- Software must be installed and fully operational before the course begins.
Other:
- Email capabilities and access to a personal email account.
Instructional Material Requirements:
The instructional materials required for this course are included in enrollment and will be available online.
- Effective Lab Reports Course Content
- The video and article will provide you with an understanding of problem-based learning in science, how lab activities should be structured to follow a scientific method, and components of the lab report that allows students to fully interact with science investigations. The course also includes some "Reflect or Discuss" prompts to help you connect with the course content and ends with a "Try This Task" to guide you explicitly on how you might implement the ideas into the classroom.
- Quiz
- You will answer questions related to lab reports and a scientific method. Quizzes are automatically scored and provide feedback on answer choice rationale.
- Implementation Reflection
- The reflection prompt requires you to plan for use of the "try this task" by either reflecting on the content yourself or discussing them with the colleague. You will then discuss a new concept you can attempt to implement in the future based on something you learned in the course.
- Considerations for Implementation
- This short statement helps you reflect on your ideas and assess whether you might be successful in your implementation.
- Videos and Further Reading
- Additional content suggestions are provided to enhance and expand your understanding of problem-based science activities.
What you will learn
- Analyze components of a problem-based science activity in the classroom
- Evaluate how to use a lab report template to support problem-based experiments
- Review each component of a lab report and compare how it aligns with a scientific method
- Build a plan for an upcoming science investigation using the lab report structure from this course
How you will benefit
- Your planned science and lab activities will become more engaging and relevant to your students
- Your students will interact with your lesson activities through more complex science investigations, discourse among students, and analysis of data that can be used to draw conclusions
- Your students will understand content better from you consistently using the lab report template during science investigations, leading to improved assessment results
Self-Study