Mr. Davis' Lab Notes: A Few Ideas

After tens of hours leading a high school biology lab, here are a few things I've learned:

1. A lab worksheet should have clear instructions.  Just because it's clear to me doesn't mean that it'll be clear to a student.  If you have a student service, ask them to do the lab.  Adjust the instructions as needed.  When a lab is over, go through the lab worksheet and change things for next time.
2. A teacher should only need a minute or two to set the lab in context of the course content and issue safety warnings before turning the students loose.  If it takes you more than a few minutes to do this, then either your expectations or the lab design must be changed.
3. A good lab takes time.  Students need time to read the instructions and even to visualize the process. Students need a few attempts at tying things out before they're actually getting good data.  In my experience, severe time constraints inhibit the value of a lab; when teachers eliminate problem-solving, labs turn into a paint-by-number assignment.
4. Students must be taught to read instructions.
5. Use the lab to walk around and ask good questions.  Even with 40+ students in a classroom, I have managed to get to each group several times over a period and be available for questions or to point students in the right direction.
6. There's an art to asking analysis questions.  I am certain that the quality of the question determines the quality of the answer.  I'm no good at this yet, but this will be one of those things I will try and continually improve.  A good question points students to the right answer without giving it to them; they'll need to make the jump themselves.

It seems to me that a lab should be organized chaos and the teacher's role is to ask guiding questions.

I would love to get to the point where I can teach content, present students with an overarching question, give the students resources to answer the questions, and then set them loose.  To that end, I improve my labs.