A Metacognitive Strategy to Improve Lab Report Writing

Laboratory report writing is an essential skill to the emerging STEM researcher. However, students report confusion regarding the structure of such reports and find the experience of writing to be frustrating. One mechanism to improve student success is through comparison and reflection— important metacognitive strategies. To that end, we implemented a pair of laboratory class assignments employing comparison and reflective strategies on lab report writing. In these assignments students are provided with examples of previous student writing and they compare the effectiveness of each report section for strengths and weaknesses. After completion of the comparison activity, students then examine their own lab report writing from a previous class to assess for effectiveness and areas of improvement. This lab series could be easily tailored to multiple levels of STEM curriculum. We invite colleagues to discuss implementation at their own institutions.