The effect of degrees of direction in the qualitative analysis laboratory on retention of learning

Abstract

Introducti~A principal criticism of laboratory work in the teaching of science is an insacient opportunity for students' decisions in the performance of laboratory exercises. Many attempts have been made to determine whether there was an advantage in allowing students more freedom when conducting laboratory work. The findings of Lennek,' Parke; and Riggs a were characteristic of the majority of these studies. They found no significant difference in learning of factual information or in the ability to solve laboratory problems between science students following recipe-type instructions and those required to develop their own laboratory procedures.Bruner4 stated that the attitude and activities that characterize figuring out things for oneself have the effect of making materials more accessible in memory. Bruner's hypothesis seems to be supported by the research of Kersh; Kittell: and Wittrock,' who have conducted similar studies which related retention to the amount of direction given when students were performing a learning task. The results of the research in each case showed that nondirected learning was superior to directed learning in promoting retention, provided that learners were first grounded in the general principle in which the learning task was based.The learning tasks in these studies involved decoding sentences or recognizing word patterns. It was of interest to impose the conditions found by these psychologists upon a practical teaching situation of science laboratory instruction to determine if similar results could be obtained.Laboratory instruction in qualitative analysis was chosen as the learning activity for this study since it was often criticized as being a mere routine activity 8-10 and was an activity in which it was relatively easy to control the amount of directions given to students without greatly affecting their ability to perform the task. The qualitative analysis involved in this study was that offered in the second semester of the general chemistry course a t Mississippi State College for Women (MSCW) . Qualitative analysis at MSCW has been incorporated as part of the general chemistry course which was the practice in more than 70 per cent of the colleges and universities in the United States. The ProblemTwo groups of general chemistry students were given different amount of directions for identifying unknowns in the qualitative analysis laboratory. One group was provided with detailed schemes as directions for analysis, whereas the other group was provided with only background information from which they could draw in developing their own schemes of analysis. Tests were given.to both groups to measure the relative amounts of retention of qualitative analysis information and procedures after an extended period of time. 165

Inductive Teaching and Learning Methods: Definitions, Comparisons, and Research Bases

“…Leonard [103] studied the use of guided inquiry and discovery learning in science laboratory courses and found no statistically significant differences in student scores on tests and lab reports. Some studies suggest that discovery learning can enhance students' retention of material and others reach the opposite conclusion [104][105][106][107][108]. The studies that show a positive effect also suggest that retention is improved only when the learning task is based on previously understood principles.…”

A Review of Laboratory Instruction Styles

“…Holcomb investigated the effects the amount of direction within a chemistry laboratory activity has on the retention of learning (68). Two groups of students were given different amounts of direction for identifying unknowns in a qualitative analysis laboratory activity.…”

‘A’ Level Physics by the Use of an Independent Learning Approach: the role of the lab‐work

“…on short-item performance tests students who had done individual experiments perform better than those who had seen demonstrations (Kruglak, 1952b) and this supports the idea of 'learning by doing'. On the other hand non-structured experiments have been found to be better than structured experiments for long-term retention (Halcolmb, 1971) but the latter have been found better for learning the processes of science (Spears & Zallman, 1977).…”