4.+Science+Report+Resources

By Phil Kahler. My purpose for creating this page is to share resources that may be helpful as you conduct your scientific investigations and write your reports.

If you find a helpful resource, feel free to share it on this page.

**Scientific Report Components:**
A scientific report generally contains five major components including: Follow this link to see what things should be included in each of these components: Scientific Report Components
 * Introduction (Purpose)
 * Materials and Methods (Procedure)
 * Results and Analysis
 * Discussion and Conclusion
 * References (Bibliography)

The CAST Science Writer might be a helpful online tool to help students write their science report: []

**Hypothesis Help:**
Writing a Hypothesis for Your Science Fair Project Formating Hypotheses Writing Hypotheses Writing a Hypothesis The Process of Forming a Hypothesis

**MS Excel Help (Data & Graphs):**
This is a short __Excel tutorial__ worksheet that I created for my students.



Other resources are available at: Includs reports written by my students that were published in Classroom BirdScope. Student Reports

I have opened up public __access__ to my student's wiki at PBworks for the duration of this course. This link will take you to a "Teacher Tour" page that will give you fast access to some examples of what my students did two years ago. But feel free to explore other areas as you have time or interest. Tualatin Valley Academy Student Wiki on PBworks - Teacher Tour

**Sources of Information / Bibliographies:**
I ask my students to format their bibliography using APA style formating. Here are some links you may find helpful.

Citation Machine formats your reference when you type in the information online. You just cut and past it into your document. You have to add the hanging indents. [] Helpful worksheet to keep track of your sources while doing your research. [] Key Information about Bibliographies: [] APA Bibliography "How To" Guide: [] Sample APA Bibliography: []

**Plagiarism:**
There are several plagiarism checker websites, some better than others. Plagiarism Checker: [] [] []

**Rubrics and Grading:**
This is the grade sheet that I developed to use with my students. I make this available to my students before they begin the project.



The next two were supplied by Colleen McLinn of Cornell Lab of Ornithology during her presentation at NSTA last March in San Francisco.



I'm not sure where this one came from, but it says that it is written for 5th grade.



RubiStar is an online rubric __generator__ for teachers. [] Here is a link to a quick rubric that I created on RubiStar. []

We use experimental design diagrams as a tool for students to communicate designs of experiments on one side of one sheet of paper. They work well for having students consider many facets of an experiment before sitting down to officially propose it and get the "green light" to begin writing up the formal proposal.
 * Mike Roche's Recommended Resource:**

It contains title, hypotheses, independent variable (with all levels specified and the number of trials expected for each level - one trial produces one piece of data - in Amy's case she only had one piece of data for each level of ind. var.) The diagram continues with identification of the dependent variable, along with an operational definition for that variable. For example - a dep. var. might be cited as "plant growth" but what is that? ... height of plant in cm? ... above surface live biomass measured in grams? ... number of flowers produced, etc... The operational definition explicitly states what will be measured, how and what units will be used. Finally at the end of the diagram, students list and specify constants or control variables that need to be regulated.

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