One of the things my brother’s science teacher is making him do is keep recordings in a logbook of his work. If you are looking to organize a science fair or construct a series of smaller assignments to lead up to a larger project, a logbook can be one of your best friends. Why have students keep a logbook? It can serve three main functions to help both you and the future scientists sitting across from you.

The first of these is, quite frankly, that it is another grade that works towards a student’s final grade. Especially at younger ages, having many graded assignments is important so that no one assessment carries too much weight. Every graded assignment helps to make sure that this is true. Of course this is less important as students get older and take more self-accountability for their learning, but if this is something that worries you, go ahead and make it a part of the final grade for the project and the relevant grading period.

The second purpose of a logbook is so that you can monitor your students’ progress and nudge them along a bit if they are falling behind on work. It gives you a way to keep track of where in the process your students are beyond the students’ memories. If they haven’t done any work for a week, or you are concerned that the students’ chosen techniques are not yielding appropriate data, this is your first warning signal.

Finally, it gives students a form of incentive and organization. They feel inclined to view the logbook as “something else they have to do,” giving them more incentive to take care in how they fill it out. I advise emphasizing how keeping good notes is essential for synthesizing the data collected when the students reach conclusions. If they keep sloppy, confusing, or no notes, they will have nothing to draw from when they go to make conclusions and put together a final presentation (usually involving a poster).

I hope you find this information on utilizing the lab logbook helpful for yourself and your students. My brother hasn’t started his yet, but I will pass this advice onto him when he does, in the near future.