#R7535

Laboratory Notebook

I use these resources in my introductory and advanced undergraduate laboratory courses as guidelines for keeping a laboratory notebook to academic standards. The students review the materials on the course web sites and watch the short videos before coming to the first day of class. I used to spend an hour on the first day of class explaining to students how to keep a high quality lab notebook--the videos let me use that class time to cover other topics. Students turn in copies of their notebook pages, and I use the checklist to grade their notebooks.
—Beth Beason-Abmayr, Rice University

This is a group of resources describing the use of the laboratory notebook. They are compressed in a .zip format to conserve space, but they can be a bit confusing if unpacking by hand, rather than using the recommended WinZip program. One of the videos appears to be empty (0 bytes).

Component Resources:
Guidelines for Keeping a Laboratory Record (Acrobat format)
Guidelines for Keeping a Laboratory Record (Link to website)
Laboratory Notebook Video (mp4 format)
Notebook Evaluation Checklist (MS Word and Acrobat formats)
Author Copyright Statement (Acrobat format)
Teaching Notes on Core Competencies (MS Word format)

One should note that the checklist includes references to subsequent laboratories that may not be relevant to every teacher. The use of abbreviations (e.g., ADA Stability Study, IEF) adds to the potential confusion.

The Teaching Notes reference explicitly the AAAS Vision and Change core competencies. This is a useful addition to the overall package.
—Thomas Pressley, Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center