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Monte Vista Independent Learning Academy

Big Picture Science Laboratory Program

Welcome to the Science Laboratory Program at Monte Vista. This program is designed to give you the opportunity to think, plan, do, analyze and present by performing various science projects and explorations.

In the broad scheme of things, your activities will address the following principles of “doing” science.

• Asking Questions and Defining Problems
• Developing and Using Models
• Planning and Carrying Out Investigations
• Analyzing and Interpreting Data
• Using Mathematics and Computational Thinking
• Engaging in Argument from Evidence
• Obtaining, Evaluating and Communicating Information

You will also explore more specific concepts which are universal to the understanding and research in science. In the projects you are doing, several of the following procedural concepts will be utilized.

• Patterns within the events
• Cause and effect within the experiment
• Scale, proportion, and quantity
• Systems and system models
• Energy and Matter
• Structure and function
• Stability and change

Some important logistical factors need to be considered.

• Laboratory work can count up to twenty-percent of your grade
• A laboratory/journal will be required
• Your absence from lab will lower your lab grade
• Several components of lab work will be done in teams of 2 or 3
• Significant instrumentation will be used, including smart phones
• Make-up work for missed labs will NOT likely be available

Watch the following video to see how to keep a lab notebook.

Some math and analysis skills:

There are some math and procedural skills need to perform a science investigation properly. These topics include the following.

• Use of Significant Figures in all computations
• Understanding Accuracy and Precision
• Construction of graphs in Google Sheets or Excel
• Finding formulas based on graphed data

The following videos cover each of those topics in detail.

Graphing data with Google Sheets