What the Heck Is an IB LAB? What the Heck Does an IB LAB Mean?

IB labs are focused solely on the inquiry lab model. It has 6 aspects that are evaluated: Design: o Aspect 1 Defining the problem and selecting variables o Aspect 2 Controlling variables o Aspect 3 Developing a method for collection of data Data Collection and Processing: o Aspect 1 Recording raw data o Aspect 2 Processing raw data o Aspect 3 Presenting processed data Conclusion and Evaluation: o Aspect 1 - Concluding o Aspect 2 Evaluating procedures o Aspect 3 Improving the investigation **Form and Function: o Aspect 1 Hypothesis Statement o Aspect 2 Hypothesis Justification o Aspect 3 Format *Manipulative Skills *Personal Skills *These I evaluate, but you dont have anything to write **Not IB but rather a CB portion Okay So How Do I Do It? The What is not as important as the How. You (not the teacher) must identify a focused problem or specific research question. You may be given the dependent variable (measured), but not always, and you will never be given the independent variable (manipulated). You also have to choose your control variables. These all need to be explicitly stated. In short, for an IB LAB you will not be: Given a focused research question Told the outcome of the investigation Told which independent variable to select Told which variables to hold constant Told which apparatus to select Told the experimental method You will not be told how to collect, record or present the data, how much data to collect or what data to graph but you must included uncertainty bars where significant, explain where uncertainties are not significant, draw min/max gradients and determine the uncertainty in the best straightline gradient. Your conclusion must be supported by the data you collect (right or wrong). You have to consider error, including the percentage error versus the total (propagated) error. Your justification has to address systematic and random error. You have to evaluate the

What the Heck Is an IB LAB? procedures used (strengths and weaknesses) and how strong/weak they are; the quality of the data produced and a comment on the accuracy and precision of your data. Finally you have to think about how to improve the investigation, based on your evaluation above, in particular to reduce random and systematic error. The suggestions have to be specific and realistic. Sounds tough? Dont worry, youll get used to it and lets start with the following: Consider a ball falling onto a desk. What could we study? Acceleration Gravity Mass Density Temperature Shape Conservation of Energy Heat Generated Sound Generated Efficiency Elastic constant of ball Relativity Length Contraction Time Dilation Elastic Properties Sound Properties Okay lets say I give you the dependent variable: the rebound height. Okay so youre measuring the rebound height lets call it height, hr. What should I use for the independent variable? Obviously we want to study something non-trivial, but some things are too difficult (length contraction etc). Im not trying to make my life difficult, but I want to make sure what I studying is interesting and has merit, so I dont want to investigate something that I expect will have no relationship (effect of air pressure on mass) or a relationship that is vary obvious in that it matches perhaps a formula I know . In this case Im going to choose the independent variable as the drop height, hd. (Remember it doesnt have to be hard ). My controls will be anything else that could affect the rebound height (other than the drop height) like the ball, bounce surface, how I drop it, initial force/velocity, rotation etc. Gravity can be listed as constant, but since I cant control it, its not a control. If I want to try a different ball at some point, I would have 2 (or more) independent variables. This is okay but dont lose focus! So lets do it!

Pre-lab Write-up Past Tense 3rd Person Pre lab? Well yes, we could/should write the purpose, hypothesis, design, procedure and materials before we actually do the lab. It helps prevent revisionist history. This lab is to be done independently (i.e. independent of the teacher, your friends, parents, uncles, aunts, text books and even the internet). If you introduce a researched formula it will make the lab inappropriate and it will suffer greatly when marked. Were not here to

What the Heck Is an IB LAB? prove/verify somebody elses formula or theory, you are here to develop a relationship (x versus y) of the two variables you generated data on. Some points to make: 1. Purpose: (1 minute) Why are you doing this (the answer is always you are investigating something). This is a one liner, it is not my (the teacher, IB etc) purpose or intention. It is not a planning lab, or a data collection lab. It is your investigation (albeit not entirely voluntary ) 2. Question: (5 minutes) What question are you trying to answer? It should be a focused question along the lines of How does X relate to Y? If you are trying to find more than one thing, i.e. did you need to use 2 ? statements or a big and, you are probably unfocused. 3. Hypothesis: (5 minutes) What do you think will happen? Be concise and precise about your prediction. In particular use a language that fits with your independent, dependent variables and it should highlight the purpose and question. One or two lines max. Now you can add additional justification here based on the planned experiment (dont go into detail about the experimental procedure!). Warning: do not introduce a theory/formula etc you may have accidentally seen on the Internet or in a text (see independent above) or your lab will be marked inappropriate. If you are going to use a figure or need to relate to the particulars of the experiment, do so in the design section instead. 4. Design: (5-10 minutes) This is the design of the experiment, not the procedure. You need to explicitly state your variables; what you are manipulating (independent variable) which includes time, what you are recording (dependent variable) and what you are controlling. You also want to state how you are going to control the experiment either here or in the procedure. But realistically, the how (what you do) should be in the procedure section, the how (with what) should be here. Be specific when talking about controls and how you are controlling them. Rather than saying the ball will be dropped say the ball will be dropped from a reference point by releasing it with no sideways momentum or rotation. Note some things can also be listed as assumptions. You cannot control gravity so dont include it as a control. 5. Materials: (5 minutes) Choose your apparatus appropriately (think about limit of reading etc). Include the make and model of equipment, descriptions and quantities. You probably wont do this until after the lab itself so leave space and save a minute. Estimate the uncertainty for each at this time. 6. Procedure: (5 minutes) Make sure that in the procedure you account for precision and accuracy by taking multiple sets of data (random error rule of thumb is 3 measurements per condition), changing controls between sets of runs (systematic error) etc.

What the Heck Is an IB LAB? Ensure you are collection sufficient relevant data to account for random error and systematic error. Also the number of data points should give good coverage to the range of values possible. If you are measuring things from 1 to 100cm you would want at 8-12 measurements, well spaced. If you were measuring from 1 to 10cm, then 20 measurements would be overkill. (rule of thumb would be at least 5 data sets) So 25 to 30 minutes to get ready. And you thought it would be hard On to the lab! The Actual Lab (target 20-30 minutes) Labs are usually busy places, with limited resources so this is not the time or place to be figuring things out. Get in, familiarize yourself with the equipment (ask if you dont know something, hey even better is to ask before the lab in person or email), do the experiment, give a quick reality check to your values and get out to finish your write-up. 7. Observations: (3 minutes) What did you experience? Qualitative observations, notes on possible sources of error, and quantitative results, i.e. your dependent and independent results. In physics labs the bulk of your observations will be quantitative in nature. If you have a number of results such as time you can give the average value that you observed. A note on data: Put all tables, figures, graphs, sample calculations etc in the appendix. Make sure to properly label everything with the variable name, symbol, units and error (4 things be it a graph or table). Title all figures, tables and graphs. Use of consistent sig figs is a must and the best way to ensure this is to use scientific notation for all entries as applicable. Include one sample calculation of each type performed. Since you are doing only one of each type make it a good calculation including units, show the base formula etc. Separate the number and error calculations. There will be uncertainty on any measured value and you are expected to propagate that error. Graphs (oh yes you had better have at least one graph of x vrs y) need to have trend lines (not connect the dots) including lines of best fit, min best fit and max best fit. Curve fit your data until it is linear. Include error bars on one axis only (or the one with the largest error). See the handout on uncertainty. 8. Analysis: (30 minutes writing, maybe 30 minutes for calculations, graphs etc) This is the important part of the lab. A table or graph or series of equations are not analysis; they are data. Analysis is interpreting the data and deciding what it means. Always show error or talk about it (and dont ignore it because its hard or you dont want to do it). Narrate your thoughts as you go through what your data results are; compare them to the expected values, (error tolerance!!!) Do they agree or not, and why not if theyre out of whack. What is your percentage error compared to the absolute error? The error on line of best fit; is it too big to give you confidence in your answer?

What the Heck Is an IB LAB? (sources of error, limitations of equipment or procedures). Refer to graphs and specific values. 9. Conclusion: (2 minutes) You already know the answer just state it clearly as yes or no was the hypothesis proved, the final values you got and were they within the expected range. 10. Evaluation: (5 minutes) This is your evaluation of the lab based on science. You can talk about procedure and equipment what where the errors, limitations or weaknesses. What improvements could be made on the lab? These should be realistic (dont blame the machines!) Think about error (random and systematic) and ways to minimize or mitigate it. Good rule of thumb again is to have 3 good suggestion minimum. So another 40-70 minutes makes 90-120 minutes total. This is what IB is thinking and giving you credit for. So at the 3hr mark you may want to stop and rethink what you are doing. It doesnt have to be typed (It does have to be neat and legible however). Dont let the software slow you down if youre not adept with it.