This week in grade two we were writing and thinking like scientists: asking questions, posing hypotheses, testing our ideas, and recording our findings. The last two weeks during Writers' Workshop, the girls were introduced to a lab report format. This week we continued to use mentor texts, lab reports written by other children, as models along with success criteria to help us write like real scientists.
"Modeling is the pathway to excellence." Tony Robbins Unlimited Power
To Write Like a Scientist, We ...
(Success criteria for writing a lab report)
1. Ask a question about how the world works.
2. Record a hypothesis, a guess.
3. How will you test it? Record your procedure.
4. Conduct multiple trials, and record your results.
5. Analyze your results, and write a conclusion.
"Just as children need to participate in the writing process, they need to participate in the scientific method, working as professional scientists do." Lucy Calkins Lab Reports and Science Books
This morning Class 2A wrote step-by-step procedures before conducting their experiments. 2A scientists wanted to find out whether a ping pong ball or a yarn ball (hand-crafted by Ms. Mai) would go farther when catapulted. We made catapults out of plastic spoons, rubberbands, and rulers.
In Procedures...
(Success criteria)
- Make a "You will need" section.
- Draw pictures that teach with labels, details.
- Number the steps.
- Include detailed measurements (2 1/2 in)
- Tell not only what to do, but how to do it.
Here are some examples of 2A's lab reports:
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| page 1: scientific question and hypothesis |
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page 2: procedure2A scientists wrote their procedures with a parter  |
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