Lab Report Grading Decided

I can tell you that the grading of lab reports has been the biggest drag of my physics teaching career. I started with cookbook labs that were basically not useful except for the graph. After my experiences with Modeling Physics, I began to expand those reports. Soon they became full lab write-ups including hypothesis, procedure, data, graphs, analysis, and conclusion. I went back and forth of having formal labs typed up or just draft reports. I had students just summarize some times or highlight a specific part. The last three years, the students have maintained a complete lab notebook in a composition book. They have been required to include all information in every report. It is always in first draft form, and I look past all of the scribbles and cross-outs. I thought this was a great way to get students to do some technical writing and be a little prepared for college lab reports.

Only one downside: It was a minimum of 6 HOURS OF GRADING!

That is a seriously huge downside, and it would sometime go as much as 9 Hours for some labs in the beginning of the year. Today as I was looking over my Objectives and working on the CVPM, I came to a decision. I am going to have a basic paper version of a lab for them to state their hypothesis, record data, and analyze. This will be used to determine if they are able to predict and analyze data. I can use those to assess G.1, G.2, and G.3 for my objectives. For G.5 and G.6, I will need to see a written conclusion. In order to assess those objectives, the students will submit a full lab report, and they will be able to chose any lab after the first one. They will be able to reassess by submitting a later lab report if necessary.

I figure it allows a small amount of experience, and I will be able to identify students who really need help in communicating their findings. If all goes well, I will:
1. reduce my grading time because not all of the students will submit a report each lab.
2. identify quickly those students who need support in writing reports.
3. provide more timely feedback for meeting the objective.
4. reduce stress and workload from students.

The downside is they will get much less experience writing reports and conclusions. I am willing to take that risk if it means I can spend those extra hours preparing great lessons instead of grading endless lab reports.