How to Organize Life Science Lab Activities

Worksheet

• 1

  Write an introduction to the lab activity that outlines the living process under examination. For example, an introduction to a lab activity on plant cells might outline what cells do and their importance for living organisms, or it could describe how plant cells differ from animal cells.

• 2

  List all the materials and tools students need to complete the lab.

• 3

  Create a step by step process students can follow to complete the lab and an estimate or allotment of time to complete the lab.

• 4

  Write a question for students that guides their thinking during the lab. For example, in a lab activity examining the effect of leaves on the transportation of water in plants, an appropriate question would be: "Do plants with more leaves transport water more efficiently than plants with fewer leaves?"

• 5

  Create a worksheet that includes the introduction to the lab, the tools needed to complete the lab, the steps of the lab, a section for students to make preliminary predictions based on a guiding question and a section for students to record results or to compare and contrast results with their predictions.

Organized Classroom

• 6

  Determine whether students will work alone, in pairs or in groups based on the size of your class and the amount of special equipment available. If your lab requires expensive microscopes, for example, there probably won't be enough available for every student in the class to work simultaneously.

• 7

  Collect all the extra materials needed for the lab activity in one location in the classroom or in an organized fashion throughout the classroom.

• 8

  Pass out the worksheet once class starts and explain what and where the materials are that students will be using.