When I look back at each year I've taught AP Biology since I returned to the classroom, I can give each year a theme. Year one: survival (myself brushing up on all the content and the new AP exam), then year two: tweaking the alignment of the class with the Essential Knowledge statements and Learning Objectives for AP Biology from the College Board, and now year three: reflection and revision. I've changed how I grade formal lab reports (a blog on that will have to come later) and we've added a different type of lab report.
So, we're trying something new in AP Biology this year--the mini-poster presentation for a lab report. The formal lab report still has its place and we'll do 4 or 5 of them this year, but I felt like we needed something else to help expand the student's repertoire of presenting and defending their findings. I read the blog post on Authentic Peer Review by Brad Williamson in the KABT Bio Blog, looked at his linked resources and decided to run with it.
This week students picked their item to core and determine the molar concentration and water potential of. This is part of the standard AP Biology lab on diffusion and osmosis. Before the lab I had prepped the 0.2M, 0.4M, 0.6M, 0.8M, and 1M concentration of sucrose, colored each a different color, but didn't label them. That just gave an extra "mystery" for them to solve. Each set of lab partners also had a labeled and laminated tri-fold folder made from two Manila folders glued together and a huge supply of various post-it notes (even graph paper ones!).
They wrote their methodology as they went through the lab. Their presentations came together as they collected data and began their analysis.
Once the reports were finished, I gave each lab group a printed copy of the rubric I'll use to grade their presentations. Then all students had to go around to each report and make a suggestion for the authors of that report that they believed would help improve that report according to the rubric. I give each group an opportunity to revise their presentation before their final submission to me. This process gives the students both experience with peer review and the ability to do revisions. Then I'll grade the reports using the same rubric.
After the reports are graded, we'll be able to peel off all of the post-it notes and start our next presentation.
The class enjoyed the process of putting the lab together. One lesson I've learned though as I've been buying specialty post-it notes is to encourage the students to write out their first draft on scratch paper and then transfer to the post-it notes when they think they're ready.
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