Your report should be typed and free of spelling and grammar errors.  It should include a title and the following sections, which should be labeled:

 

Introduction:  Give a brief description of what the lab was about and what you did.

Question:

Hypothesis:

Observations:

Variables:

Manipulated:

Responding:

Controlling:

Results and Analysis:  This is where you should put your data tables, graphs and average reaction times for each category.  You should have two bars graphs (one for each category) showing the reaction times of each individual.  These should be done in EXCEL.

 

Conclusion

A conclusion for a formal lab report should be written in paragraph form and it should include the following:

 

• A description of the results of the experiment and your interpretation of these results.  At the very least, go back and look at your hypothesis and determine whether the results of the experiment support your hypothesis or not.  Give details from your data that support your conclusion.
• A description of anything interesting or surprising that happened during the experiment.
• An analysis of the accuracy of the experiment.  There is always some source of experimental error.  Think about the procedures you followed and what those sources of error might be.  Incorrect calculations or not following instructions are not an acceptable source of experimental error.  Some examples of acceptable sources of error are:  1) Students may have been distracted, and therefore, not reacted as quickly.  2)  Students may have predicted when the meter stick was going to drop, rather than reacted to it, thus giving them a faster reaction time.
• Suggestions for ways to improve the experiment.  For example: This experiment would be more accurate if we were able to test everyone in an isolated room, with no distractions.
• Suggestions for further investigations on similar topics.  For example:  In further investigations, it would be interesting to measure how reaction time changes with age.

 

 

 

Your job is to create two bar graphs, one for each category of your reaction time lab.  Please read the instructions carefully and follow them!  Make sure you have read the instructions carefully before asking questions.  This page will be the results and analysis section of your lab report.

 

Spreadsheet vocabulary:

Columns: vertical divisions on the spreadsheet labeled A, B, C, etc.

Rows:  horizontal divisions on the spreadsheet labeled 1, 2, 3, etc.

Cell:  the intersection of a column and a row; for example A1 is the box in the upper left corner of the spreadsheet.

 

Instructions:

Extra Credit

For extra credit, you can use EXCEL to calculate actual reaction times based on the distance the meter stick fell.  The formula is not a simply distance = rate * time, because the meter stick is not falling at a constant speed, but accelerating as it falls at rate of 9.8m/s². You will learn more about this in 8^th grade science.  The formula you have to use is

 

                        t    =    √  2d

                                       980

 

t = time in seconds and d = the distance in centimeters

 

Instructions:

1. In cell C2, type “Reaction Time (s)”.
2. In cell C3, type “=(b3*2/980)^(1/2)”
3. Press enter.  The reaction time should appear in cell C3.
4. Click on cell C3, hold down the left mouse button and drag down to C17.
5. Click on “edit” on the top menu bar and “fill down”.  You can also press control D.
6. This should automatically fill in all the reaction times.
7. Delete the information in C9 and C10.
8. In cell C11, type “Reaction Time (s)”.
9. At this point you should have all the reaction times, but there are too many decimal places.  Click on the “C” at the top of column C so that the entire column is highlighted.
10. Click on Format and cells in the top menu bar.
11. Click on number and then next to where it says “decimal places” select 2.  Hit OK.