Hello, I’m a current junior in high school, but I’ve already started a few college courses and I’m currently going to a tech school for biotechnology. Science has always been my favorite subject and I love learning about it. There’s one problem- I’m not the best at labs. Now, I’m not horrible; I don’t break things or cause explosions or anything- but when it comes to collecting data, things get a little messy. The data we collect is sometimes completely off, especially when it comes to chemistry. I’m not so bad at biology labs, however. I’m just really concerned. I’ve been interested in science for years and I don’t wanna give it up. Does anyone have any advice on how I can better understand lab work and/or how I can improve the data I can collect?
Thank you!
Can you go into a little more detail as to why your data is messy? Are you following the instructions to a tee? Have you talked with your teacher about what you might be doing wrong?
It’s not uncommon for data to be “off” in a lot of high school labs- you may not have the experience or the resources to do an experiment perfectly. A lot of my high school biology labs didn’t go as planned simply because we didn’t have particularly advanced technology.
Or is your issue more about writing the lab reports?
As someone who has been through many of these myself, a good lab partner is a must. Most of them aren’t hard, you have directions just follow them, and don’t be afraid to ask your classmates/teachers for help.
Doing labs well is all about practice. The first essay you wrote probably wasn’t Pulitzer worthy, and it takes effort and practice to develop good lab skills just like does to develop good writing skills. Some tips:
-
Assuming you have access to the lab material ahead of time, read over the lab and understand what you’re doing (the science behind it, why it’s supposed to work), and what you’re going to do. Make an outline in your notebook of the procedure. Note what equipment you’ll need, how you’re going to preform measurements, and make notes about alterations to it during the lab.
-
In lab, make precise measurements (especially for chemistry). Make data tables several lines longer than you think you’ll need and always leave extra space, then you won’t need to squish your handwriting into an unreadable smear.
-
Data will come out wonky occasionally; it’s inevitable. Try and pinpoint where you had issues. Sometimes it will be experimental error (did you do that measurement right? add the solution to quickly to that titration?), sometimes it will be out of your hands in the realms of technology access and the unique weirdness of the experimental situation. One of my professors told us once “some of you will get beautiful crystals. Some of you will get terrible crystals. It’s all up to the elves that live in the crystallization cabinet”. He was joking, but it does encapsulate that sometimes conditions are out of your hands. The world is a complicated, gorgeous mess, and sometimes it is beyond our ability to account for all variables.
Hope this was a bit helpful! You’re going to be fine.
Sometimes this happenes: you may love subject from the theory, but when it comes to practise, everything appears not so easy.
At least you have a passion, do not give up, and always find new inspirations.
Moreover, you may fail at the first time, but who knows, maybe you’ll excel in nearest future