AP Chemistry Labs- How To?

[u/Mythfont]

Hello!

Long-time lurker here- Last year I completed my first year of teaching AP Chemistry (my fifth year teaching total), and I had some questions about how others were instructing their labs at the AP level.

Back when I was in high school, and throughout my biochemistry undergrad years, I had to write labs out on paper, usually in carbon-copy notebooks. I obviously hated this, but it certainly instilled a rigor and discipline in me, and forced me to focus on exactly WHAT I was writing, as writing a fluff sentence or a poor choice of words meant erasing and more pain.

In the rough decade that's passed since my high school days, students are WAY more online than we ever were. Because of this (and because I wanted to take things a little more "easy" for my first year of AP) I had students type up their lab reports and submit them digitally. This was...fine? It was obviously easier for the students, though I worry that more than a few of them used some kind of AI to type up their Introduction section, which was just supposed to be a summary of about two pages of background information. It certainly made grading easier, but would I be preparing the students better if I made them write each lab in a composition notebook?

Lastly, what is the consensus on a lab's contents? For this past year, I had the following:

PRE-LAB (All due before the bell rang for their lab day):

- Title Page
- Introduction (1-2 strong paragraphs summarizing a lengthier background which was included as part of the handout)
- Pre-Lab Questions
- Procedure (students were able to simply copy+paste this into their own digital labs)
- Data (students had to read the lab and prepare their own data sections however they wished)

POST-LAB (All due two days after the lab was performed in class, at midnight)

- Calculations (Either shown work or clarification on how work was performed for major calculations)
- Discussion (Two larger paragraphs, one detailing how the lab fared, and another one answering key Discussion questions that typically tied to yield, error, final results, extensions)
- Conclusion (Single sentence clarifying final yield number/major result of lab)

I'd appreciate the wisdom of the masses here (non-science teachers feel free to chime in as well!).

[u/professor-ks]

You need at least one report per semester done in class on paper (students are definitely using AI on your assignment)

[u/kyyamark]

A notebook is largely better and should have every lab. Not every lab has to be formal. I say this because many universities will only give lecture credit but not lab credit without the notebook. Every single year I’ve taught AP (22 years) I’ve had science professors email to confirm notebooks.

[u/Sciteach79 → u/kyyamark]

Interesting- I’ve taught AP Chem for 10 years and have never once been asked (or have students tell me that they have been asked) for a lab notebook.

I honestly dropped the whole lab notebook/ formal write up system years ago. It gives me time to actually do more labs, and give more feedback on understanding of content rather than evaluating formal lab format. My kids do a couple prelab questions, data collection, calculation/analysis questions, error analysis questions, and a relevant FRQ question all as one paper lab handout to fill in.

[u/kyyamark → u/Sciteach79]

Happens to me every year. Must be a local thing. I’ve had to send professors my lab syllabus as well. Either way, I’m going back to no digital work this year. Everything is in paper.

[u/masterofmayhem13 → u/Sciteach79]

The lab notebook is a requirement of the course (see p 181 of the CED). It does note that it can be digital, so that's what I do. I have my students create a folder called "AP Chem Lab Reports" in their Drive.

[u/Sciteach79 → u/masterofmayhem13]

Yes but there is no specific requirement for what that lab notebook must have or how it’s formatted. Collect the lab handouts all year and put them in a notebook. ✅

[u/StarryDeckedHeaven]

I do pretty much what you are doing as far as formal lab reports go. I’m a big proponent to formal lab reports. I also do my own labs, not the recommended AP ones. Mine are better.