Join us for the PER Interest Group's November Journal Club discussion as we continue discussing introductory physics labs. The theme for this month’s meeting will be lab assessments beyond the traditional formal lab report.

Some questions that might frame our discussion:

• What are the pros and cons of traditional lab reports?
• Have you adopted or invented any unique methods for assessing what happens in lab?
• If you have tried some alternative lab assessments, what has been their impact?

As always, the PER Journal Club sessions are meant to be a space for sharing and discussion, so you’re invited to bring your ideas and learn something new from your fellow TYC physics instructors. We selected a few readings recommended (not required) as preparation for this session.

W. Brian Lane; Letters Home as an Alternative to Lab Reports. Phys. Teach. 1 October 2014; 52 (7): 397–399. https://doi.org/10.1119/1.4895351

This short Physics Teacher article gives an overview of the “letter home” assignment as one alternative to lab reports.

Tor Ole B. Odden, John Burk; Computational Essays in the Physics Classroom. Phys. Teach. 1 April 2020; 58 (4): 252–255. https://doi.org/10.1119/1.5145471

This short Physics Teacher article explains what a “computational essay” is and explains how they could be used in physics education as “potentially powerful structures for scientific communication, argumentation, and programming.”  

J. R. Hoehn and H. J. Lewandowski, Framework of goals for writing in physics lab classes, Phys. Rev. Phys. Educ. Res. 16, 010125 (2020). http://link.aps.org/doi/10.1103/PhysRevPhysEducRes.16.010125

This article describes a framework “for thinking about and understanding the role of writing in physics labs”; it identifies and categorizes a number of possible goals instructors might have in mind when incorporating writing in physics labs.