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Lamentations 3:27 It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth.
It is very important that a Lab Note Book be kept, it should consist of a " composition" type note book, thread bound so that pages would be impossible to remove, with out damage to the whole note book. The student should use ball point pen for recording everything, if a mistake is made, in writing something, the mistake should not be erased, but a single line should be draw though the mistake, and of course a straight edge should be used, to make a neat line. It should have on the front, the student's name, date and type of class. Leaving the first page blank and its back side left blank, starting with the second page, which will be on your right side, put a heading of "Contents" above the first line, centered of course. On the same line as "Contents", to the far left between the cleavage and the red margin line a number sign symbol ( # ) commonly knows as the pound sign, again on the same line to the far right the word "Page". ( see the Fig #1 below) Then have the student number the pages, starting with the "Contents page" as page number 1 place the number at the very bottom to the far right, the back side of the same page would be number 2, placed at the bottom on the far left.
The student should write up the lab, the write up lab, should have the following format. On the top line, there should be the title " Density of water " and the date that the experiment is carried out. (see Fig # 2 ) Skip one line using upper case print the word "OBJECT: " and then write the object. Skip a line again, and print the word " MATERIALS:" then list the materials. Skip a line again and print the following " PROSEDURE AND OBSERVATION ", have student summarize the procedure and the observation, where appropriate have the student make a neat drawing of the set up, here a pencil would be more appropriate. Again skipping a line and printing the word "QUESTIONS:" now, section could be done in one of two ways, you can write the question and a brief answer, or preferred; you can incorporate the question into a complete statement. Skip a line again, and print the word " CONCLUSION:" and a brief conclusion, such as, how is it possible to find the Density of water, and why the difference between the actual answer and the experimental answer.
Reasons for a classical approach, it instills discipline, reinforces the importance of keeping good and precise records. As Christians we should always do our best as stated in Ephesians 6:6 Not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but as the servants of Christ, doing the will of God from the heart; It will serve as proof that you did the work and serve as a helpful aid in study or review for an exam.
And besides, if good lab records were kept, we would not have heard of Alexander Graham Bell, the second person that had invented the phone, but the first person that had invented the phone. And that goes for other inventions as well.
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The importance of observation and following directions.
APTITUDE SPEED TEST, to see how well you will do in this course.
This Test, works best with a group. If you are taking this test by yourself, make sure to have someone time you.
1. Read all items carefully before doing anything and then work as quickly as possible.
2. Get a piece of paper and put your name in the upper right corner of the paper.
3. Now number from 1 to 8, skipping a line after each number.
4. On line one, write the first question from the screen and capitalize the words READ, CAREFULLY and QUICKLY.
5. Now on line 2, write the total number of capitalized letters in line one.
6. On line 3, draw four small circles, and put a dot in each one.
7. On line 4, write READ CAREFULLY and QUICKLY backwards.
8. On the back of your paper, multiply 506 times 666, and put your answer here on line five.
9. On line 6, draw seven squares and put an X in each square, except the sixth square.
10. On the back of this paper add 1944 and 7766, and put your total on line 7.
11. Now raise your right hand, make sure that the person that is timing you sees you.
12. Stand up and call out loud the answer found on line five.
13. If you think you have followed directions carefully to this point, call out " I have".
14. Now at the bottom of your paper, punch four holes with your pencil or pen.
15. If you are the first person to get this far, stand up and yell out, "I am the first person to get to this to this point, and I am the leader in the following directions test."
16. On line 8, write the word " The End".
17. Now that you have finished reading carefully, do only sentences 1,2 and 3. Say nothing. Sit back and watch the fun!
A colleague passed on the following test to me, and it has been modified to PC format, and it does serve a purpose.
How important is it to be a good observer and follow directions?
This one particular chemistry teacher tried his best to stress the importance of accurate observation and properly recording it and being able to follow directions. To bring his point home, so that it would register with the know it all students; he did the following demonstration in class. He first explained and stressed, how important it was to accurately observe and record what you see and follow directions, especially in doing chemistry experiments, because there is always a potential of accidents in the lab. He produced a six inch bowl of fowl smelling blackish material of unknown origin, except to him, and stated to the students: Now do exactly as you observe me doing, before all the students, he took the bowl of foul smelling substance, proceeded to stick a finger into the bowl and then lick the finger. You could see a disgusting look on some of the student faces; some even dropped their jaws, form astonishment. Now, with all eyes upon him and wondering, as to where he was going to start the test, he started with the middle row, and said, if I can do it so can you. Approaching the first desk, you can see the student making all kinds of facial expressions, then the moment of truth came and the student proceeded to stick his finger into the bowl, and you could see all students facial expressions of disgust, and just before he licked his finger the teacher stopped him, you could see the perspiration on that students face and a sigh of relief. The teacher then proceeded to explain, that the student was not very observant, for one thing when the teacher stuck his finger into the bowl, he did not lick the same finger, as the student was going to do, and I am sure that this demonstration had driven the point home, of being an accurate observer and following directions.
*****NOTE OF CAUTION*****
It used to be, that there many labels, that had to be placed on test tubes and containers, the kind that you had to lick, however in a laboratory situation one never licks labels, I don't think it takes much intelligence to figure that out. Today, self-adhesive labels are very popular and common, except for the envelopes. It should be a standard procedure, to never lick any label or envelop, because you leave your self-open to any contamination that may be found on the label or envelop. And it is especially important today, to follow this non-lick policy, because of all kooks that are out there.
To further emphasize the importance of keeping of good records and making careful observations.
This was shared with a freshman English class by the English professor and here it is, to the best of my recollection. The professor stated that there was a study done on the power of observation, and how accurate people could be in recalling what they had witnessed. The following was a contrived experiment by a group of college students: A busy street section was chosen, the students were divided into four groups, the first two groups were dressed as gang members, leather jackets, chains, funky hair due, leather gloves with finger cut off, the works. The two groups approach each other, such that they would meet in the middle of the block, where there were dozens of people. On their approach, they were quite laud and noisy, each group had a leader, the leaders pretended to bump into each other with the pretense that they had the right of way, upon their collision, a ruckus was made of shouting and a few vulgar words and threats were exchanged. Then one of the leaders threw open his leather jacket, reach in for a very large yellow ripe banana and stab the other leader with it. The leader doing the stabbing ran off with his gang, and the other gang, ran off as well. The individual that was stabbed with the banana, grabbed his chest squeezed a McDonald's catsup pouch and as he fell down on the side walk and spread the catsup on his chest. Just as soon as he ended up on the side walk a clanging gong began to sound (not a siren) and a meat truck pulled up, and two guys rushed out with a regular door for a stretcher, they picked up the injured party, put him on the door, rushed him into the meat truck and with a noise of gong, gong, they dove off. It seemed that some of the people were almost in shock; they couldn't believe their eyes as to what they were seeing. Just as the meat truck departed, here comes the forth group dressed as reporters, and they began to ask the people what they had witnessed. From the dozen or so people that were interviewed, some gave fantastic observations. Some said, that there were two vicious gangs fighting with chains and bats etc. Some said that they witnessed one of the gang members getting stabbed with an 18-inch knife, such that you could see the end of the blade sticking out the back and blood all over. Then, they recalled, that some one called an ambulance and the poor victim was taken on a stretcher to the hospital. From the dozen or so people interviewed no one got it right, except for one individual. That said, that there were these two loud groups, probable college students playing some kind of gag, pretending to collide with each other, doing some more shouting, then one individual pulled out this large banana and proceeded to stab the other guy in the chest. They then all took off, except for the guy that was stabbed with the banana and with his ketchup stain, ended up on the sidewalk. All of a sudden a gong, gong noise was heard and a meat truck pulled up, two guys in white coats got out of the truck with a regular door, placed the supposed victim on the door and put him into the truck and they drove off. From dozens of people only one got it right!
Well, so much for accurate observation and recall.
Have you ever been in a real court room, where there were witness examined, if you haven't your in for a surprise. You will rarely find two witnesses giving the identical testimony. I was in a court room and heard two witness, state what had happened in a relative's accident, and there were three different accounts of what happened, however there was a general agreement of what happened, but you would think that they were describing three different accidents. As a matter of fact, that in a court of law, the recorded testimony of the Gospel writers, would make them as credible witnesses of Christ's crucifixion, because they were not carbon copies.
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