Fragrant Pheromones

Student lab reports can be done in groups or individually, but the ideal group size would consist of two or three students. This allows students to help each other on this very early report. For this inquiry, they will be writing their lab reports on large poster board or poster-sized Post-it and sharing their findings with the class. The lab report format is one students will use all year for their lab reports, so this could be their first opportunity to write one. A copy of the lab report requirements is in Attachments as "Lab Reports Format." The format included is one students can cut out and tape or paste into the fronts or backs of their notebooks. Students can tape, paste, or staple their inquiry sheets (especially their data sheets) to the back of their reports as evidence of conducting the experiment.

Students don't have to limit themselves to creating a basic or traditional lab report. There is more than one way to create these reports, allowing students to showcase their creative side. Possible variations listed below with a few example images:

• Construction paper reports: Have students put all 10 lab report items on a folded (hamburger style) piece of construction paper. Get the larger sized construction paper if you can (this gives a little more room for everything).

• Card stock/colored paper reports: Same as construction paper. These can have two pages for extra writing space, just staple the spine.

• Flip book reports: If you do not know how to construct a flip book, go to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jg8EJFcQ068. It walks you through the process of creating a flip book, which you can show your students the first time you use this method. You will want four or five pieces of paper to create an eight or 10 page flip book per student. Each page in the book is a tab for each section of the lab report. If you go the eight-page route, page one will include the lab title and the picture/drawing and page two will include both the hypothesis and the variables.

• Typed report: If students have access to laptops/Chromebooks/computer lab, then they could type their reports on a Google Doc, share with an elbow or clock partner (for proof reading), and then they can print it out to turn in or share it for online grading. Alternatively, this can also be done as a part of Google Classroom.

Wrap up the lesson by re-emphasizing the essential question and having one last conversation about how science is done. Also, teachers might want students to do a rough draft (either in their notebooks or on white paper) and get approval/teacher sign-off on how the final report would look.