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Imagine kids visiting a science museum. They’ll probably bounce from one exhibit to another with a momentary ‘wow, that’s awesome!’ … and move on. Then give those same kids the option to complete a ‘museum scavenger hunt challenge,’ where they have to seek out a variety of objects and manually document items they find. Which experience is more engaging, and helps the kids makes more connections? Which slows down the experience? Most importantly, which is the better learning experience?

The answer should be obvious. Slowing down and thinking more deeply and critically can be seen as a superhero skill. For decades, museums have attempted to reach new constituencies by designing the museum experience to incorporate active learning. Active learning occurs when people stretch their minds to interact with the information and experiences at hand. In art museums, for example, visitors are learning actively when they do such things as:

• formulate their own questions about works of art,
• reflect on their own ideas and impressions,
• make their own discerning judgments,
• construct their own interpretations,
• seek their own personal connections.¹ 

Similarly, helping students get the most from lab experiments requires careful planning and being purposeful, intentional, and thoughtful. Consider the work of successful science museums. A trip to a science museum may begin with a warm-up activity that is engaging for students such as determining what they can find, and where they can find it. Continuing with data gathering and evaluating, the students could be asked to be on the lookout for what was missing or sources of errors. Concluding the visit, the teacher could ask what was learned and what questions the students still have, and what they would do next.²  I believe that lab experiments should be period trips to science museums!

A hobby of mine as a teenager was model building, a popular pastime involving constructing and painting detailed replicas of various objects such as cars, planes, ships, and even fictional action characters. To produce a good outcome, the process required concentration and dedication. Like students’ engagement in a museum scavenger hunt and model building, I believe the chemistry lab notebook offers similar potential for engagement in chemistry class, resulting in exponential learning outcomes.

Exploring in the classroom with lab notebooks

Figure 1. Students use their lab notebooks during a laboratory activity.

As a practitioner of inquiry-based learning, I know that this approach, in a variety of forms, engages deeper thinking and centers on questions rather than on answers only. Add to that, direct observation, manipulation, and experimentation with natural phenomena, and our chemistry lab experiments are a powerful elixir for creating the environment for experiential learning.

For example, a relatively simple experiment that consists of lighting candles at differing heights and enclosing them in a desiccator or the like to exclude gas exchange, presents a challenge for students to understand. After making observations and sketches, followed by a discussion, students are asked to write a conclusion that includes their proposal for an additional experiment to test their understanding, logical thinking, and experimental design. The additional experiment may make use of items such as a heat gun, thermocouples, and candles with different wax and wick thicknesses.

Optimizing the laboratory experience

Figure 2. Students collect data and record it in their lab notebooks.

I think that recording in a lab notebook provides students a bridge into becoming an experimental researcher. As a result, it is more meaningful to the student than being merely an observer or answering very focused and direct questions in a lab handout. A student who manually enters all the components of the lab experiment and records extemporaneously into that lab notebook transforms themself into an emerging scientist!

Early in the school year, slowing down the laboratory experience by discussing and recording observations and analyzing reactions can help students make this transformation. Examples include observing and analyzing the reaction CuSO_4(aq) and Al_(s), the ignition of magnesium ribbon, or the vibrant colors in the flame test. To acclimate students to lab notebooks, the first few experiments should have relatively easy procedures, data collection, and interpretation. Examples of these experiments are exploring the loss of mass of a burning candle, relationship of spaghetti length versus mass, and behaviors of dry ice.

In my teaching experience, the weakest skills in students coming into my chemistry classes are competencies in critical thinking and writing effectively. While some may say that it’s enough for our students to “just do science,” I would argue that we have a great opportunity and indeed, a mission, to strengthen 21st century skills in all our classrooms and labs. Having worked as a research scientist for many years before my career in teaching, my experience has reinforced that thinking critically and writing effectively are two of the most essential skills for success.

Connecting scientific data and observations

Figure 3. Data collection recorded in a student lab notebook.

A distinguishing feature of science is that explanations are required to correlate with observed data from nature or the experiment performed. As scientists, we gather these data through direct observation, manipulation, and experimentation with natural phenomena. Because the subject matter of science is the material world, science education involves seeing, handling, and manipulating real objects, and materials, and teaching science involves acts of showing as well as of telling.

Writing in a lab notebook allows others, and yourself, to know what you’ve done and learned in a lab experiment. Without well-documented lab experiments, you cannot prove that there is any merit to anything you might make or publish. But, by keeping a lab notebook, you will have a clear record of your research and data to support your claims. Another point to note here is that it’s the lab notebook that proves the integrity of the data and records.

All of this may sound like high expectations and aspirational thinking, but it’s still worth pursuing for our students. Lab notebooks provide students with authentic science experiences as they become active, practicing scientists. Teachers gain insight into students’ understanding of science content and processes, while students create a lasting personal resource.

In order to provide timely feedback and grades, some teachers use ‘virtual lab notebooks’ or incorporate an online component to the lab notebook. Commercial packages that facilitate these processes are available, many of which were produced during the pandemic years.

Some of these packages offer nice options, including one that presents lab notebook pages in the ‘Cornell Notes’ style. Some teachers may prefer these, finding them more accessible for students and allowing more lab time to interpret results and write conclusions. In addition, this approach may be more convenient for grading and providing feedback. There is, of course, some concern about the authenticity of work done outside of class. Other teachers may prefer the tried-and-true paper lab notebook which, among other benefits, offers the “real feel” of one’s own unique handwriting in a lab notebook, which may add a more personal attachment.

Balancing scaffolding and student independence

Figure 4. Students work collaboratively in the lab, each maintaining their individual lab notebook.

Over the years, I have created and provided many lab handouts, with pre-formatted sections, prompts, questions, tables, plots, etc. As helpful as these resources can be, I sometimes worry that I’m missing an opportunity to help the students think and act like workings scientist in a lab. I find that scaffolding is needed for students to become competent and feel confident and efficient enough that their notebook does not diminish, but rather adds, to the chemistry lab experience.

It’s debatable as to the relative importance and impact of our teaching of content versus skills, and even what are the critical content or skills are, specifically. One skill that can be especially long-lasting, valuable, and relatively simple to teach is the ability to keep a good lab notebook. Keeping a good lab notebook has transferrable skills including organizing, presenting evidence, analyzing data, and supporting an argument.

Anecdotally, many school districts have added expectations across disciplines for ‘journalling.’ Does the lab notebook qualify? Sure! Students should be encouraged to practice descriptive writing in a detailed, technical and creative manner, which should include sketching in their lab notebooks. Typically, the progress is evident as students become more confident and familiar with the lab notebook practices.

Notebook guidelines for students

In my honors chemistry classes, students are directed to paste the ‘Lab Notebook Guidelines’ document (see Figure 5) to the inside cover of their 100-page composition book as a reference. Scaffolding students’ lab notebook skills starts with experiments that emphasize lab safety and basic skills such as accurate measurement of mass, volume, graphing, analysis of error, significant figures, and interpretation of results. Gradually, the lab experiments become more complex and require more detailed lab notebook recording and evaluation. The level of independence in designing inquiries can evolve, demanding appropriate improvements in record-keeping. For the most part, students hand-write everything related to their labs into their lab notebook. However, to save time, pre-printed procedures may be distributed for students to paste into the notebook. Similar guidelines are found elsewhere.^3,4 

Intentionally integrating lab notebook practices in the chemistry lab provides me and my students with multiple growth opportunities for practicing and developing critical 21^st century skills. Students build their skills and confidence in the practices, and some may envision themselves as future scientists. For grading, I use a simple rubric and provide specific positive and critical feedback for specific learning objectives and skills such as:

Grading rubric (40 points total)

• Format and organization (5 points)
• Data organization and completeness (10 points)
• Legibility (5 points)
• Analysis and conclusion (20 points)

Grading and providing feedback to students in dozens of lab notebooks can be overwhelming for us. The strategy I use is focusing on skills needing most guidance. Most commonly these areas are creating clear data tables and writing conclusions.

Throughout the school year, I observe that students grow their skills and become more comfortable with the notebook demands. Examples include carefully recording observations using scientific terminology in real-time in a properly organized manner, evaluating results, and formulating them into conclusions reflecting back to the purpose and hypothesis. Although acquiring these skills can certainly be a challenge during the first few labs, mindful repetition is a powerful strategy for success. With specific feedback and clear guidance from the teacher regarding expectations, the lab notebook can become a reliable and helpful learning and skill building companion in the chemistry lab.

It’s gratifying to see students taking pride in their chemistry lab notebook efforts as part of their chemistry lab experience. As students slow down, think more deeply about the focus of the lab experiment, explore, probe, ask questions, make connections, and work collaboratively, they continue to build their 21^st century skills.⁵

After some time, as student develop good lab safety practices, experimental techniques, and lab notebook-keeping skills, I then extend the expectations so that they spend more time on designing and writing procedures as well, given some minimal guidance. These experiments may include separating and quantitating a mixture of iron filings, gravel, and sand in a sodium chloride solution; thin layer chromatographing; identifying extracted components of plants compared to literature results; determining the amount of sodium bicarbonate in a balloon in the reaction with acetic acid; or designing a mass balance procedure.

Allowing students to design, safely perform, record, and report on their experiments in chemistry lab that becomes more student-centered and 21^st century skills-fortified can be hard work. But it’s also a proven way to make chemistry lab more impactful and enduring for students.⁶  Slowing down for thinking more deeply and critically builds those superhero skills. We chemistry teachers have the toolbox, and the chemistry lab notebook to make it happen!



Randy A. Weintraub
High School Ambassador, AACT
2024–2025

References

¹ Harvard Graduate School of Education’s Usable Knowledge web page: Learning in Museums. https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/usable-knowledge/05/09/learning-museums (accessed May 1, 2025).

² Hutchings, C.; Ojalvo, H. E. Exhibit A: Exploring and Learning at Science Museums. The New York Times website, Mar 24, 2010 (accessed May 1, 2025).

³ Clark, J. Scientific Record Keeping. National Institute of Mental Health Office of Fellowship Training. Available at https://oir.nih.gov/system/files/media/file/2021-08/presentation-scientific_recordkeeping-april2014.pdf (accessed Sep 4, 2024).

⁴ Bjork, C.K. Your notebook. Chemtech, 1987 p.135

⁵ Dede, C, Comparing Frameworks for 21st Century Skills, Harvard Graduate School of Education, 2009

⁶ Shana, Z.; Abulibdeh, E.S. Science practical work and its impact on students’ science achievement, J Tech Sci Ed, 2020, 10(2), 199-215.