Instructional Approaches and Strategies
Introduction
Laboratory teaching is one of the ways by which students learn about and understand the natural world, particularly about how something works, what it contains, and how its behavior can be explained and predicted (Millar, 2003). To facilitate this learning, teachers can provide students with carefully designed activities that will allow them to interact with and observe real materials and objects. Such activities can be performed either in teaching laboratories or in the field, particularly for classes such as earth science and biology. By performing laboratory activities, students are able to create a link between the domain of ideas and the domain of real objects. In addition, these types of activities enable students to learn about the scientific approach to inquiry.
Review of the Relevant Research
Sunal, Wright & Sundberg (2008, p. 5) define “laboratory work and technology experience [. . .] as incorporating hands-on and minds-on interactive learning strategies involving inquiry activities integrated with instruction in everyday science teaching, and taking place in a classroom, laboratory, or in informal settings.” In this learning activity, students construct their own meaning for the scientific ideas that they encounter and they have control of their learning through their teacher’s guidance.
This is the strategy selected for this paper because it allows the students to apply their theoretical knowledge in activities that will enable them to gain better understanding of the said knowledge, which, until then, would exist only in their imaginations.
According to the NSTA (National Science Teachers Association), technology is the best tool for facilitating the students’ learning and the teachers’ strategies for teaching in the science classroom (Sunal et al., 2008). NSTA (as cited in Sunal, 2008, p. 8) asserts that “the emerging research is clear in illustrating that science in an STS context results in students with more sophisticated concept mastery and ability to use process skills.” In particular, the use of technology enables teachers and students to place emphasis on real-world problems rather than to begin with a statement of a pre-determined process or concept. Technology helps students identify problems, plan for group activities to resolve these problems, and design activities that will enable the resolution of the said problems. This is supportive of the assertion made by Freedman (as cited in Sunal et al., 2008) who indicated that continuous and regular laboratory instruction had a significant impact on the students’ science knowledge achievement and on their attitude toward science. Still, other researchers claimed that laboratory instruction showed significant improvements among diverse students, including those who were not highly proficient in English (Sunal et al., 2008).
In this regard, the NSTA (Sunal et al, 2008) suggests that a person who possesses a literacy inn science and technology is someone who makes appropriate use of science and technology; who values and uses science and technology in finding solutions to problems; who distinguishes between science and technology; who understands the limitations and strengths of science and technology in the advancement of human welfare; and who considers the ethical, economic, and political aspects of science and technology relative to personal and global issues.
NSTA’s claims are similar to the findings of Adams (2009), which suggested a need for making the learning and teaching experience in the bioscience laboratory more engaging and challenging through the use of technology and a higher level of student participation. As a result of the study, Adams (2009) recommended that laboratory teaching practices, particularly in the biosciences undergraduate programs, must be reformed to adapt new practices. In particular, it has been found that active and inquiry-based learning approaches are more effective than the traditional didactic learning and teaching approaches. Moreover, Adams (2009) asserted that limited or small-scale project experiences were just as beneficial for students as were projects that lasted for the entire semester. In addition, Adams (2009, p. 8) suggested “the need for an improved continuum of the student experience in the teaching laboratory,” which means that educational institutions must be able to provide a continuity in the students’ learning as they advance to higher levels of education; thus, ensuring that more advanced classes build upon the knowledge and skills that the students have previously acquired. As well, Adams (2009) suggested that the reform of laboratory teaching practices in bioscience programs can be facilitated by computer based learning (CBL) initiatives. Finally, Adams (2009) suggested that traditional laboratory classes need to be restructured in order to allow “students to learn by discovery, interact more effectively with peers and tutors, and begin to appreciate the excitement of performing experiments” (Adams, 2009, p. 8).
In the same regard, Longo (2011) investigated the design of inquiry-oriented science laboratory activities in middle school where he asserted that inquiry could be considered a strategy in that it defines the teacher’s responsibility of providing the students with assistance in helping them discover knowledge and not providing the knowledge for them. Some of the processes practiced in an inquiry-based learning of science include the formulation of new questions, the formulation of inferences, the drawing of conclusions, data collection and analysis, experimentation, the development of hypotheses, the act of making observations, and the formulation of theoretical questions.
In his investigation, Long (2011) identified six steps that were used for implementing am inquiry-based science activity. These consisted of the following: 1.) Beginning an inquiry laboratory; 2.) Forming hypotheses; 3.) Reconstructing knowledge with reflective writing and blogging; 4.) Creating procedures in the inquiry classroom; 5.) Collecting data and drawing conclusions; and 6.) Extending the inquiry. When beginning the inquiry, the student can either guide the students in formulating their questions or the teacher can use the open-ended approach where the students are allowed to brainstorm on the question they would like to investigate and where the teacher provides limited guidance. In forming hypotheses, the students work in groups where they form predictions based on their own and the other students’ prior knowledge about the topic of the activity. Next, the students participate in a blog discussion where they discuss the problems they want to investigate and comment on their classmates’ questions and hypotheses. After coming up with the questions they want to investigate, as well as their hypotheses, the students create the procedures for their experiment where they can also get input from other groups. With their procedures completed, the students conduct their experiment where they record the results in a table and where they are responsible for selecting the graph that will best represent their data. Finally, the students are asked to share their findings through blog discussions or through oral presentations.
Analysis of the Research
Laboratory teaching as an instructional strategy is appropriate when getting a first-hand experience of course concepts would enable the students to understand the concept better. This would enable them to actually see how something works or behaves instead of just imagining such. In addition, laboratory teaching may be employed to enable students to learn about the scientific method of inquiry, which involves specific procedures and a certain type of discipline, which the students would need when they further their studies or when they go into their chosen professions.
The main implementation issue that surrounds the use of the strategy is that students often fail to learn from laboratory activities (Millar et al., 2003). Because of the quick execution of the tasks and the basic equipment used in performing them, along with the lack of care and precision in their use, students usually fail to come up with the intended results for the activity. Even when they do obtain the correct results, such results – though obvious to the teacher – may be meaningless for the student. Because of this, laboratory activities may seem like routine for the students, which does not incite any sense of excitement in them.
On the other hand, while implementing an inquiry-based science activity will seem more exciting, not all of the students will have the necessary skills or level of motivation to perform the activity on their own. As well, there’s the challenge of ensuring that the students really learn from the activity and are able to apply such learning elsewhere and are not just completing the activity for the sake of compliance.
Conclusion
In conclusion, I would use laboratory teaching as an instructional strategy for helping students understand scientific concepts, especially if it pertains to something in the natural world that they can observe. I would also use it to allow them to explore the said concepts and enable them to think critically. In addition, I would use the instructional strategy in the classroom where the students can conduct simple experiments; in the laboratory where the students can perform more complicated experiments; and out in the field where they can observe something in nature. Moreover, I would make sure that they understand the relevance of the activity before the activity begins and I will try to gauge when my guidance is needed and when it is not. Finally, I will ask the students to share their experience either through oral presentations, through blog discussions, or through reflective papers to ensure that they found the activity meaningful and to allow me to evaluate what’s being effectively and ineffectively done. In turn ¸this would enable me to make the necessary adjustments in my teaching approach.
References
Adams, D. J. (2009, June). Current trends in laboratory class teaching in university bioscience
programmes. Bioscience Education, 13. Retrieved from
http://www.bioscience.heacademy.ac.uk/journal/vol13/beej-13-3.pdf.
Longo, C. M. (2011, September). Designing inquiry-oriented science lab activities. Middle
School Journal, 43 (1), 6-15.
Millar, R., Tiberghien, A. & Marechal, J-F. L. (2003). Varieties of labwork: A way of profiling
labwork tasks. In D. Psillos and H. Niedderer (eds.), Teaching and learning in the science
laboratory (9-20). New York: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Sunal, D. W., Wright, E. L. & Sundberg, C. (2008). The impact of the laboratory and
technology on learning and teaching K-16. Information Age Publishing, Inc.
