The discovery laboratory – A student-centred experiential learning practical: Part I – Overview

Abstract

Chemical Engineering’s Discovery Laboratory at Imperial College London is a practical teaching programme designed specifically to support student-centred learning at an advanced level, bridging the gap between instructions driven lab experiments and fully open ended research. In the first part of this article we present an overview of this programme with particular attention given to the design of the pedagogical framework and the execution of teaching. The teaching goal is delivered by in-depth experiential learning, where students are assigned a specific subject area to conduct their own research within a set timeframe and boundary conditions that guarantee a successful learning outcome. Academic supervisors and teaching assistants play an important role in this process, where they provide students with continuing guidance throughout. The use of research or industrial grade equipment ensures the students’ preparation for their final year research project as well as their post-graduation careers. In addition to summative assessments, students also receive formative feedback periodically from academic supervisors and teaching assistants. The Discovery Laboratory has received positive feedback from both teachers and students since its inauguration in 2011 and here we share some useful insights for the execution of such a practical teaching programme

Advancing experiential learning through participatory design

“…The senior students were selected with an approximate 50-50 split with respect to Home/EU and International fee status, a range of ethnicities and both male and female students to achieve a representative sample. In addition, we made use of responses from the Undergraduate Student Online Evaluation (UG SOLE), a survey conducted by the college after each teaching term for feedback on modules and lecturers, details of which are described elsewhere (Chen et al, 2016). Student comments received from the students from SOLE are representative of the entire Knowledge Lab module and not just the project case study discussed.…”

“…The chemical engineering teaching laboratories contribute practical modules to the overall curriculum designed on the principles of experiential learning. Details of the "Foundation to Discovery" teaching philosophy and corresponding teaching modules are described elsewhere (Chen et al, 2016). The Knowledge Laboratory is a practical learning module designed for 2 nd year chemical engineering students.…”

Using Legitimation Code Theory to Conceptualize Learning Opportunities in Fluid Mechanics

“…Further, if there is group work involved, then there may be some development of 'soft skills', which require knower insight. However, as is discussed in [19,33,34], practicals can often become much less active than envisioned in the above figure. Students frequently do little preparation for practicals (i.e., they do not perform the tour through the purist insight quadrant).…”

The Impact of Student-Based Instruction on Improving IBT TOEFL Scores of Iranian Students

“…When a class, the teacher is started to respond questions, help the individual learner, and to lead them as they display included in the training method. Technology allows the teacher to continue this purpose behind the class (Chen & Shah, 2016).…”