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Laboratory Applied Project (LAP) Project Description

Laboratory Applied Project (LAP) Project

As a final culminating assessment in the laboratory component of this course, you will conduct an eight-week Laboratory Applied Project (LAP) project which will serve as your final lab assessment in this course. Your LAP will emphasize Experimental Design and the Scientific Method. Please note that you are NOT being asked to conduct an experiment. You may find that your design lends itself to conducting an experiment, in which case, there is room in the project to receive credit for doing so. There are three parts to this project. The first two parts (LAP1 and LAP2) provide a mechanism for exploring your ideas, finding an interesting question, and producing a draft. These first two parts contribute 10% each to the overall project grade and must be turned in on-time and be complete to receive credit. The third part (LAP3) is a culmination of your work and will be assessed using the General Rubric. Make sure to Reach, Expand, Achieve and Learn during this project. Make it REAL.

For your submitted LAP1, I will identify the topic for further refinement in LAP2 and LAP3. I will try to select the one that would lend itself best for designing an experiment and/or had high interest by the student or me. If you decide that you would like to focus on a different topic, then just select a topic and move forward. Please note that you are not to produce a report about the topic, but rather you are to produce a good experimental design related to your topic, but include literature research to provide background and to inform your experimental design. Generally, questions that contain “why” do not lend themselves to an experimental design. Those that involve “what” make for easier experimental designs. For instance:

• “I want to know why salt dissolves in water.” The answer to this question is the underlying physics and chemistry and would lend itself to a report about the science, but not so much the specifics of an experimental design. Not Good for LAP project.

• “I want to know what the impact of temperature is on how much salt dissolves in water” or “I want to know what types of salt dissolve best in water and perhaps under what conditions.” For the first, one can change temperature and see what happens with dissolving. For the second, one can use different types of salt and see what happens with dissolving. Good for LAP project.

Laboratory Applied Project Part 1 (LAP1):

The Question: Find a question that is personally relevant, physical science related and/or globally meaningful. A combination of these attributes is preferred.

In order to assist you in being creative in finding several possible questions to consider, please reflect on the following areas:

• Physical Sciences: Planet Earth, Space, Geology, Meteorology, Weather, Physics, Chemistry, etc…

• Your personal experiences

• Your work

• Your home or home life

• Your hobbies

• Newspaper or magazine articles

• On-line reading

• Health in general or the health of a friend or family member or your health

• Other personally relevant or meaningful issues

Then respond to several (at least five) of the following (or similar) statements as they relate to any of the above areas. Replace blank with statements. Feel free to adjust the wording to fit. Then follow your statements by responding to “why do you care?” or “what does it matter to you?” The main goal for this task is for you to be creative in identifying some interesting questions that matter to you and are related, in some manner, to physical science. Some specific examples have been provided. You may not use any of the specific examples for your assignment. Your five statements should include five different topics. Don't just take one topic and reword it five times.

• Is it true that blank causes blank? (ex. Is it true that increased water salinity causes an object to float higher in water? Can it cause an object that does not float in water to actually float in water?)

• I have always heard that blank helps with blank.(ex. I have always heard that winter weather helps with creating shocks.)

• It’s bad for someone to blank.(ex. It’s bad for someone to rise quickly from deep water.)

• It’s good for you to blank.(ex. It’s good for you to put salt on your sidewalks in winter.)

• I don't believe it when I am told that blank. (ex. I don't believe it when I am told that deforestation leads to an increase in global carbon dioxide concentrations.)

• I have always wondered about blank. (ex. I have always wondered if heavy things really do fall faster than light things.)

• Every time that I blank, blank happens.

• I once did blank, and blank happened, so now I always make sure to do blank.

• I wish I knew what caused blank.

• I know that blank causes blank.

• I wish I knew what was more important for blank, blank or blank.

• A problem that bugs me is blank.

• I think that everyone should have to blank because then blank.

You get the idea. Try some of your own statements. Don’t forget to explain why the issue matters to you.

Submit a document with at least 5 statements on different topics (including their relevance to you) to the Assignments Folder. Your instructor will approve the selection of the question or issue for you to explore.

Evaluation of LAP1

Laboratory Applied Project Part 2 (LAP2):

Draft Hypothesis and Design:

1. Propose a hypothesis for the question.

2. Assume that you have sufficient resources, facilities, time, cooperation and manpower to conduct an investigation. Design an experiment to collect data relevant to your hypothesis. This means that you have lots of flexibility to come up with a design. It doesn’t have to be absolutely realistic. The main goal here is not to actually do the experiment, but to demonstrate your understanding of how to design a good valid experiment.

For example, suppose the selected question was "Is it true animals can sense earthquakes?" Assume that you have a lot of time, a lot of money and space, and that you can buy whatever you need such as:

• Many animals (that you can treat humanely...think PETA)

• Facilities that can house the animals (where would you locate these facilities?...perhaps where earthquakes occur more frequently? Feel free to have multiple locations…you got a big $$$ grant)

• How long do you need to conduct this experiment? You do not have to still be alive …you can design the experiment and have it go on for whatever timeframe needed…days, weeks, months, years, centuries? Literature research can give you an idea of good locations and how often earthquakes occur and at what magnitude. You have the basis for a great design. Open up to the possibilities. Do Literature research to answer content questions…etc.

Note: This assignment requires a design that would generate some quantitative data.

3. Suggest what the data might look like if you conducted your experiment? Use numbers and at least one graph in your descriptions.

a. What would the data look like if it were to support your hypothesis? In this case, what would your conclusion be?

b. What would the data look like if it were to conflict with your hypothesis? In this case, what would your conclusion be?

Submit this assignment as a document to the Assignments Folder. Your instructor will review this draft and if needed, provide direction for follow up or pose additional questions.

Laboratory Applied Project Part 3 (LAP3):

Revision, Depth and Finalization:

Refer to your DRAFT Hypothesis and Design. Review the “Scientific Method Tutorial” (all six parts) found in “Science Learning Center” in “Course Resources” in the “Course Content” area of our electronic LEO classroom. Did you apply these concepts to your process? Some questions to consider are below, others can be found in your review of the “Scientific Method Tutorial.” The main goal for this task is for you to recast your DRAFT into a final high quality document. The questions below are meant to help you identify items that may need further revision.

• Is your hypothesis testable? Can it provide predictions that are testable? Can it potentially be shown to be false by further observations or experimentation? Was your experiment designed to disprove your hypothesis?

• What are the variables in your experiment? How many variables are there? Have you controlled for all of these influences?

• Are there practical limits for the experiment? Are there variables for which you cannot control?

• If you did this experiment, what do you think the results would be? Why do you think this?

• In your conclusions, did you avoid using language such as “the experiment proved the hypothesis.”

Research:

• Conduct informational research on the topic. Summarize the results of this literature search and include references.

• Can you find experiments that have been conducted that have an experimental design similar to yours?

• If possible, conduct the experiment or some part of the experiment. Collect preliminary data. (Optional, Not Required)

Submit this final assignment as a document to the Assignments Folder. The submission should demonstrate that you have addressed all questions and reflections posed to you in all parts of this project and should at least include:

• a personally relevant interesting question, with a discussion as to why the question is meaningful to you. . The question should have at least one connection, clearly identified, to a physical science concept.

• a properly formed hypothesis

• an experimental design, with discussions of testability, variables, controls, and limitations

• suggestions of what the data might look like if the experiment was conducted

• conclusions based upon these potential data results

• Results of a search of the literature