An Evaluation of Student Performance on Traditional vs. Synopsis Laboratory Reports in Industrial Technology

Prior research demonstrated that writing synopsis laboratory reports (succinct syntheses of the experiment, lecture, and readings) instead of traditional laboratory reports, did not influence student learning as measured by comprehensive exam scores. This study extended this research by investigating the impact of these lab report formats on student learning as measured by laboratory report scores. Fifty-six Iowa State University industrial technology students were randomized into one of two groups that were required to write five synopsis reports followed by four traditional reports or vice-versa. The analysis of mean laboratory report scores using the paired-samples t-test revealed no significant difference between treatments. The analysis of the mean scores of the nine individual laboratory reports using two-sample t-tests revealed no treatment effect for seven of the nine reports. The results of an exit survey revealed that students believed the synopsis format helped them to achieve higher grades on their laboratory reports. Disciplines Agriculture | Bioresource and Agricultural Engineering | Engineering Education Comments Copyright 2008 by Georgia Southern University reproduced with permission from International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching & Learning This article is available at Iowa State University Digital Repository: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/abe_eng_pubs/51 International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning http://www.georgiasouthern.edu/ijsotl Vol. 2, No. 1 (January 2008) ISSN 1931-4744 © Georgia Southern University An Evaluation of Student Performance on Traditional vs. Synopsis Laboratory Reports in Industrial Technology David Hoffa David Hoffa Industrial Consulting Ankeny, Iowa, USA [email protected] Steven Freeman Iowa State University Ames, Iowa, USA [email protected] Abstract Prior research demonstrated that writing synopsis laboratory reports (succinct syntheses of the experiment, lecture, and readings) instead of traditional laboratory reports, did not influence student learning as measured by comprehensive exam scores. This study extended this research by investigating the impact of these lab report formats on student learning as measured by laboratory report scores. Fifty-six Iowa State University industrial technology students were randomized into one of two groups that were required to write five synopsis reports followed by four traditional reports or vice-versa. The analysis of mean laboratory report scores using the paired-samples t-test revealed no significant difference between treatments. The analysis of the mean scores of the nine individual laboratory reports using two-sample t-tests revealed no treatment effect for seven of the nine reports. The results of an exit survey revealed that students believed the synopsis format helped them to achieve higher grades on their laboratory reports.Prior research demonstrated that writing synopsis laboratory reports (succinct syntheses of the experiment, lecture, and readings) instead of traditional laboratory reports, did not influence student learning as measured by comprehensive exam scores. This study extended this research by investigating the impact of these lab report formats on student learning as measured by laboratory report scores. Fifty-six Iowa State University industrial technology students were randomized into one of two groups that were required to write five synopsis reports followed by four traditional reports or vice-versa. The analysis of mean laboratory report scores using the paired-samples t-test revealed no significant difference between treatments. The analysis of the mean scores of the nine individual laboratory reports using two-sample t-tests revealed no treatment effect for seven of the nine reports. The results of an exit survey revealed that students believed the synopsis format helped them to achieve higher grades on their laboratory reports.