Running a prac with Stile
Pracs and hands-on activities can provide some of the most powerful learning moments for our students.
Whether you wish to run one of Stile’s investigations or one of your own, Stile is the perfect digital lab book to help your students become scientific thinkers.
Why have students write up their investigation reports in Stile? Here are some of the top benefits:
- You can easily tailor the openness of an investigation to the ability level of your students. They can be open-ended, student-led investigations, ‘follow the recipe’ practical activities, or anything in between.
- Students can upload and annotate photos of their investigation right into their report.
- Students can instantly visualise their data as they’re collecting results.
Your procedure will vary slightly depending on whether you wish to run one of your own investigations or one of Stile’s.

If you’re running your own investigation
Copy one of Stile’s scientific investigation templates from the Lesson Library into your Stile subject.
Modify the template as appropriate: add the aim, materials and method if you want more of a recipe-based activity. Or leave them as questions for a more open-ended, student-led investigation.

If you’re running one of Stile’s investigations
Copy the relevant Stile unit from the Lesson Library into your Stile subject.
Modify the investigation as appropriate: remove the aim, materials and method and replace them with questions if you want more of an open-ended, student-led investigation.

Running your investigation in the class
Run your investigation as you normally would, except have students record their results and write their report in Stile. Make sure to:
- Encourage students to upload photos and videos of their investigation. They can annotate their photos if they upload them into a Canvas (see diagram on the right).
Tip: Students can log into Stile on their phones in order to directly upload their photos and videos. - Where relevant, encourage students to upload their data directly into Stile’s graph tool. Their data will be visualised right in front of their eyes!

Of course, as always, we suggest viewing student work as they go via the Markbook and providing feedback where relevant. Ask students to resubmit their work in response to your feedback to hone their scientific minds!
This article is an excerpt of the Stile Guide. View and download the full Guide here or read another excerpt:
- Teaching with Stile in the classroom: a beginner’s guide
- Teaching with Stile in the classroom for experienced Stilists
- Conducting formative assessment with Stile
- Running a test with Stile
- Setting Stile for homework
Would you like to be a Stile Luminary? Watch the webinar to find out more.

