Alternative Realities: Faculty and Student Perceptions of Instructional Practices in Laboratory Courses

Abstract

A survey was developed on inquiry-based learning and assessment in undergraduate laboratory courses and defined five constructs: metacognition, feedback and assessment, scientific synthesis, science process skills, and instructor-directed teaching. In general, faculty and student perceptions were not related at the course and instructor levels.

Increased Scaffolding and Inquiry in an Introductory Biology Lab Enhance Experimental Design Skills and Sense of Scientific Ability

“…The fact that LCAS scores were high in both formats may indicate that introductory students perceive any experimental process to feel like legitimate research experience. As novice researchers, introductory students may not understand the nuanced ways in which the course research experience differs in authenticity from a real research experience, though the instructors do recognize this distinction ( 32 ). This reinforces the notion that educational experiences can have significant authenticity for the students, even when there is no purposeful design for authentic practice ( 31 ).…”

CREATE Two-Year/Four-Year Faculty Workshops: A Focus on Practice, Reflection, and Novel Curricular Design Leads to Diverse Gains for Faculty at Two-Year and Four-Year Institutions

“…While participants reported positive impacts, the authors noted that faculty self-assessment must be interpreted with caution due to the tendency for faculty to inaccurately report the extent to which their classrooms are student-centered (51; see also 10). In this regard, a recent report that students and faculty may view the same course quite differently ( 52 ) also highlights the importance of moving beyond self-report, either by faculty or students, in tracking post-workshop implementation or learning. Ebert-May and colleagues ( 11 ) recently studied the effects of a faculty development program (FIRST IV) on the teaching/learning beliefs and teaching practices of postdoctoral fellows (PDs).…”

The Effect of a Paired Lab on Course Completion and Grades in Nonmajors Introductory Biology

“…We recognize the limitation of using course completion and final grades as our outcomes; the real interest for science educators is student learning in the five dimensions we identified in our literature review. Prior research has documented that, beyond content knowledge, labs support metacognition (Karelina and Etkina, 2007;Beck and Blumer, 2016), help students think and work more independently and to do more in-depth data analyses (Howard and Miskowski, 2005), improve quanti-tative statistical analysis skills (Goldstein and Flynn, 2011), improve scientific reasoning skills (Feyzıoėlu, 2009;Beck and Blumer, 2012;Brownell et al, 2012), support the development of practical skills (Brownell et al, 2013), and cultivate positive attitudes about science and science learning (Thompson and Soyibo, 2002;Howard and Miskowski, 2005;Beck and Blumer, 2012;Brownell et al, 2013;Kloser et al, 2013). While we are not conflating the final grade with student learning, our syllabus review notes that the final grades we used were primarily composed of content knowledge assessments, which is only one of many objectives that labs are meant to achieve.…”