Regents Earth Science Lab Guide Mr. Braham

Labs count as an important part of your grade. Learning to do labwork is also an important skill both in school and beyond. The state requires you to complete 30 hours worth of labs and to have satisfactory documentation on file. During the regents exam, you will be asked to perform several lab experiments on your own, and they will often ask questions about labs on the test itself. For a lab to qualify for credit, it must be complete AND accurate. We will perform about 40 hours of labs during the year.

You are allowed to choose your own lab partners. However, if one group is not turning in their labs on time, I will intervene and change your group. I like letting you work with your friends, but make sure your work is getting done. A missing lab can lower your class grade as much as 5 points, sometimes more. If you do not have 30 lab hours turned in at the end of the year, you can’t get credit for the class, even if you are doing well on everything else!

Labs are due two days after they are completed in class, and they are due by 3:15. Any late labs are marked off 15%. Also, if a lab is turned in without finishing all the parts, or is unsatisfactory, it will be returned to you and marked as late. The grade will be in the books as a 0 until it is satisfactory. Labs that are not turned in during the marking period they were due in will not raise your grade, but they will count as state credit, so labs need to be turned in before I do grades. Especially if you have to do them anyway. Labs are graded on a scale of 1-20. 20’s are hard to achieve, but a careful student should be able to get a 16 or higher. Points can be taken away for incorrect results, failure to answer a question, or writing in pen. I do not take points away for misspelt words or poor grammar. Except in the cases where the original meaning cannot be determined. Most people lose points for not answering a question the way it was asked. If you are asked for a complete sentence, give one. If not, then I won’t take points off for that, but it might hurt your ability to fully answer the question. I cannot put words in your mouth. It is very important to pay attention to detail. Labs scored a 12 or lower are failing, and will not receive any credit until corrected. The material for the lab experiments is not available for an unlimited amount of time, so one should not count on making up a half a dozen labs in May to reach 30.

Lab behavior is very important. A student who carelessly or intentionally causes damage to the lab supplies, or creates a disturbance will be dealt with severely. In most cases, the student will not be allowed to continue to participate in that class, in extreme cases, the student will be barred from all lab activities until the situation can be remedied.

While I allow you to work in groups of 2-4 on most labs, each person needs to turn in their own written part. I expect you to work together, I encourage it. However, if you do all the work for your lab partners, and they don’t understand it themselves, you aren’t doing anyone a favor. Some tests and quizzes does deal with the labs. And you are required to do lab experiments by yourself on the regents exam. So help each other out, but make sure everyone knows what they are doing.

Lab questions are tough. They are supposed to be. Some of them, you really have to think about to get. Some questions have more than one right answer. If you and your partner don’t agree on an answer, that’s fine, you each have your own report. However, you are each your own person. Even if you agree with your partner, your labs should not be the same word for word. Put each answer in your own words. If I see two answers that are word for word identical, I will assume they are copied. Since I cannot tell who copied from who, both labs will be given no credit until they are fixed. It is your responsibility to make sure your words are different from your partners and if you allow someone to copy answers from you, your grade may suffer as well.

Labs will not be returned to you, but you can see the grade for them. I will keep all your labs on file in the classroom. This is mandated by the state in the event of an inspection.