Students’ perceptions of when conceptual development occurs during laboratory instruction

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Abstract

Seventeen first year students experienced the first semester of laboratory instruction of a year-long sequence of general chemistry in a problem-based format, followed by a semester in which the laboratory portion of the course was taught in a traditional manner. At the end of the second semester all the students were administered a questionnaire regarding their perceptions of the different laboratory instructional environments. Fifteen of the seventeen students participated in semi-structured interviews. Analysis of the surveys and interview transcripts showed that seven of the students interviewed believed that the problem-based environment helped them better understand course concepts relative to traditional laboratory instruction, whereas the same number found them to be equally effective. Further analysis of the interview transcripts revealed that different students perceived conceptual development to be occurring at different times during the various types of instruction. For problem-based learning, conceptual development was maximized during the activity while in the laboratory. In the expository environment, however, it was maximized outside of the laboratory, after the experiment had been completed. Both the instructional and research implications of this phenomenon are discussed. [Chem. Educ. Res. Pract., 2007, 8 (2), 140-152]

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