What do you when students' experiments get unexpected results?

When students take part in hands-on science, their results may not always conform to their teachers’ expectations. What happens in your lab when student data doesn’t align with the principle being taught? Take our anonymous poll now!

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When doing a lab designed to illustrate a specific concept, have your students ever had results that differed from what you expected?

Yes

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If so, how did the results differ?

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When results differ from the expectation, what is the most common cause?

Missed/skipped a step outlined in the instructions

Measurement error

Miscalculation

Intentional deviation from directions

Students were unable to identify error

Teacher’s error or incorrect assumption

No common cause; data was simply an anomaly

Other (please specify)

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When students get unexpected results due to an identifiable, unintentional error, what do you do?

Have them redo the lab if time permits

Have them use data from another student or group, or give them some expected data to work with

Have them use the data they collected, making note of the error and its potential effect on the data

Pool the class data and hold an error analysis discussion as part of a teachable moment

Other (please specify)

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When errors are due to an intentional deviation from lab directions, how do you respond?

Remove the student(s) from the lab immediately and/or give him/her/them no credit for the lab

Have the student(s) repeat the lab after school or during a free period if possible

Before taking further action, ask the student(s) to explain why he or she/they deviated from the instructions

Create and teach a lesson on the choices that lead to flawed data

Other (please specify)

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When the unexpected data are not the result of student error, how do you address the unexpected results?

Optional: It's helpful to us to know a little about you when we analyze the survey results.

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What is your professional role?

Educator

Administrator

Other

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Level:

Elementary

Middle School

High School

Institution of Higher Learning

Informal Education Setting

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Location:

State:

Other:

Thanks for your time!