Supporting Lab Report Writing In An Introductory Materials Engineering Lab

This paper will describe the development and implementation of a web-based support site for helping students write and reflect on lab reports in an undergraduate Materials Science lab. This project, part of a larger NSF project to support undergraduate lab report writing, details the specific challenges of implementing lab report writing support materials for engineering labs. The lab report writing project, LabWrite, is focused on helping students better understand the process of writing lab reports. This includes help with organization of information prior to coming to lab, how to organize data collection in the lab and finally, writing, graphing, and interpretation of the results. One of the biggest challenges was the creation of support materials that would be relevant not only to basic science courses, but also to engineering courses. This paper will focus on how lab report writing in materials engineering differs from report writing in traditional science courses, such as chemistry and biology. Also discussed is a more general implementation issue of providing on-line support for writing, graphing, and interpretation of data. Lessons learned include the importance of taking a holistic approach to the infusion of these support materials into lab-based courses by involving faculty, lab instructors, lab support personnel, and students in the development and implementation of the material.