Sample Lab Notebook Setup

Sample Lab Notebook Setup

A lab notebook is an amazing tool. More than anything else in the lab you need a lab notebook to keep track of all that you will do, are doing and have done while experimenting. I have found that my lab notebook helps me to keep track of minor changes I make from my procedure (the steps involved to do the experiment) and make it so I can repeat my experiment in the same way to reproduce results (get the same results again). Each person has their own way of keeping a lab notebook (for me I like a lot of structure and make sure I fully write out everything) and no way of keeping a lab notebook is incorrect provided you keep basic things in there like hypothesis, observations, conclusion, etc… Below are three samples of how to setup your lab notebook with hints and tricks to help you (the examples are different levels of lab notebook based on overall writing and reading experience you have). The words in red are the different sections or important parts of your lab notebook and the words in blue are explanations, tips and tricks for your notebook for each section.

Level 1 – This setup is for younger kids just getting into experimenting that may not be ready to read and write all that they are doing.

Experiment Title                                                                                                                               Date

For younger scientists an adult can write the experiment title and date on the top of a page or our young scientists may write it. Make sure that the title is understandable so that you can relate it to what you are doing.

Hypothesis      Draw or write what you think will happen in the experiment after it has been explained to you

Observation        Draw or write what you see happening in your experiment

Conclusion          Did your hypothesis match what you observed or did something else happen?

Level 2 – this setup is for kids ready to organize more concepts than the level 1 experiment log, but not ready for level 3. These kids are able to read and write but may not be fully confident or may feel they do not have enough time to write everything out. When you are confident that you can do more than draw pictures in your lab notebook try moving up to this type of lab notebook entry.

Experiment Title                                                                                                                                Date

On every page of your lab notebook at the top of the page write your experiment title and the date, when your experiment spans multiple pages you can write experiment title on each page or can write continued (as in you are continuing the experiment from the previous page).

Hypothesis      Draw or write what you think will happen in the experiment after it has been explained to you

Materials:          In this section try to list the different materials you will be using, do not worry about getting every material written down, the key here is to start observing what you are using in your experiment and start record those materials. The more experiments you do the more confident you will become with writing out all the materials that you use.

Method:              Attempt to write down each step that you do in your experiment, but again do not worry if you miss a step or two, what you are trying to learn to do with this is to be able to write out a set of directions for someone to follow to reproduce your research.

Observation        Draw or write what you see happening in your experiment

Conclusion          Did your hypothesis match your observation or did something else happen?

Level 3 – This setup is more for kids who are fully confident at reading and writing, it helps them to organize their thoughts and prepare for doing scientific experiments in middle school and high school with success.

Experiment Title                                                                                                                                Date

On every page of your lab notebook at the top of the page write your experiment title and the date, when your experiment spans multiple pages you can write experiment title on each page or can write page numbers or the word  “continued” (as in you are continuing the experiment from the previous page).

Objective:           The objective section talks about what you are trying to learn or do in the experiment. In this section you can state one or more hypotheses (ideas that you can test). Hypotheses often take the form of a default (or null) hypothesis and one or more alternate hypotheses. 

For example, consider an experiment testing a particular paper airplane. An example default hypothesis for a flight experiment might be “The heavy plane with flat wings will crash within 3 feet of the launch point and maintain a total glide time less than 2 seconds.” An example alternative hypothesis would be “The heavy plane with flat wings will glide for at least 20 feet before landing and will maintain a total glide time of at least 4 seconds per flight attempt.” 

When testing multiple conditions in the same experiment it is often sufficient to state two hypotheses that cover all conditions. For example, a null hypothesis for an airplane experiment testing multiple wing shapes and aircraft weights for paper airplanes might be “All wing shapes and aircraft weights will have an equal effect on glide distance and glide time” while the alternative hypothesis would simply be “Wing shape and aircraft weight will have a clear effect on glide distance and total glide time.” 

The default hypothesis normally remains consistent with established theory or prior observations while the alternative hypotheses represent a different state from existing theory and empirical observation.

Your observations and analysis will help identify which hypothesis (or hypotheses) is consistent with your observations.

Background:      The background section is used to let you show the information that you already know about the materials and the experiment that you are doing. This section might summarize prior research, observations, theory, and motivation for running the experiment. This section is most important when you are doing an experiment that builds on what you learned in another experiment or reproduces a prior experiment. For example if you learned cows have sticky tongues experiment you could state this in this background of an experiment in which you are trying to determine if cows tongues help them pick up and swallow food.

Materials:           In this section list all of the materials that you will use in this experiment. Now most people just put simple materials like the chemicals they are using in the experiment, but as we are young scientists we can also put any disposable materials like q-tips, cups etc… One key thing to remember is that the materials you use should include all materials that are vital to the experiment, so for example if your experiment requires salt to do something salt should be listed in your materials. It is also often helpful to provide descriptions and or drawings of your lab setup and any equipment (including brand names, model names, software versions, etc). A key use of this section is to help others reproduce your experiment.

Method:               Prepare Experiment

1.      In this section go through and write out each step that you do to prepare your experiment. Make any relevant observations related to your environment that might affect the outcome (this might include temperature, pressure, humidity, wind speed/direction).

Run Experiment/Record Observations

1.      In this section list each step that you perform to run your experiment, if you repeat a step multiple times then you should write that step multiple times. Although this is your methods section feel free to record observations as you write down each step. Remember that pictures and written words are both great observation techniques.

Remember to note any significant changes in environmental variables that might affect your outcome (ex. between runs 3 and 4 the rain stopped and the temperature increased by 3 degrees Fahrenheit).

Note which units are used for any numbers that you collect. Someone in Europe will likely use SI units for numeric measures (degrees Celsius for temperature, meters for length, grams for mass, etc) while a researcher in the United States will often use Imperial units (degrees Fahrenheit for temperature, feet for length, pounds for weight, etc). You might not know that an expensive probe launched to Mars crashed because the scientists involved did not clearly identify their units.

Analyze Data

1.      When you are done running your experiment go through and look at your results and attempt to determine if your hypothesis was upheld or could use some refinement. Remember that a hypothesis is an idea you can test. No hypothesis is truly wrong; some may simply not be supported by the data or analysis. Do not get discouraged by an incorrect/unsupported hypothesis as an incorrect hypothesis only demonstrated you learned something new and learning is amazing. You should be proud of yourself for all of your hard work and learning all that you can!

Conclusions:        This section is where you summarize your experiment. You restate your hypothesis, state in general terms what you did and state whether your hypothesis (or which hypotheses) was supported by the experiment. You can also state ideas for other experiments and summarize what you learned overall.

That’s it. I know that seems like a lot and for our young scientists who cannot read or write just yet can have an adult help them write out their lab notebook and they can draw their observations. They key is to learn how to follow an idea from start to testing to conclusion. The more experiments you do the more you will refine how you keep a lab notebook and the more you will learn. Remember that you are amazing and learning all that you can will make you that much more amazing!