Many of the hands-on experiences in this class will be activities. The primary purpose of the activities is to introduce or apply a concept. During the activity, you should record the questions and write your answers directly beneath each question. I will try to structure the questions so that you should be able to write a discussion by using the questions as a guide for writing your discussions. When you write your discussion, you will be trying to convince me that you understand the concept. This is accomplished by

1. Restate the purpose of the activity.
2. Provide any background information relevant to formulating your purpose or hypothesis for the activity.
3. Identify the variables and controls used to test or illustrate the concept.
4. Describing the lab activity. Write a narrative about what you did. Explain (when possible) why specific procedures were used. Be sure to include the details on solutions used such as its concentration and composition.
5. Note any relevent observations or key measurements and which variables the observations and measurements correspond. If you have measurement, use a data table or provide the range in values you had.
6. Identify any trends or patterns in the data collected (including details about the graphs made such as shape. If you have an equation for the line, identify what the constants represent and what variables are.)
7. Showing sample calculations when appropriate.
8. Explain how the data illustrates or supports the concepts and answers the purpose.
9. Identify modification you might make to your lab that might increase your confidence in the results.
10. Identify any practical applications the activity or results of the lab may have.

The discussion is the major portion of the grade for any activity (40-60%). You need to participate in the activities and your participation will be certified with a stamp on your recorded data. Without the stamp, you will not receive credit for the activity.