Memo for Lab

A student emailed a question wanting to know what should be in the “Memo” for this lab. They said:

Do you want us to present the final calculations or also explain how we calculated it, how we did did the conversions and the data that was given to us? For now I just put, for example,
frontal area = xx sqin = xx sqft = xx sqm = xx sqkm = = xx sqcm = xx sqmi

What the instructions in the lab say is:

Summarize the laboratory and your understanding of its implications and limitations.  Do so in the textbox below, including as many specific numbers and details as possible to support your argument

The emphasis for the memo, therefore, is on your interpretation of the lab rather than the methods used.  Those methods should be evident on the sheets for the individual questions.  The kinds of things that you might discuss on the memo are:

• The US unit system
• The issues relating to unit conversion
• Significant digits
• The relevance of these calculations to professional life – positive or negative
• Why did we choose this lab for the first of the term?
• Are some or all of the calculations oversimplified?
• Does what we calculated here make sense in terms of your experience in CoOp or prior school experience
• The role of Excel as a tool – with specific comments on Excel techniques.
• etc……

Jim Mitchell