Twenty Years of An Inquiry-based Lab: Does it Work??

 

Tested Studies in Laboratory Teaching, 2015, Volume 36

Kathy Nomme, Maryam Moussavi, & Carol Pollock

Abstract

Can 800+ first-year (freshman) students design and implement their own experiments in biology? You bet! Twenty years ago we developed a lab course where cohorts of 600 to 1,000 students are guided through an inquiry-based approach to answering biological questions. One of the central goals of the course is "to develop and practice scientific thinking and to apply the scientific process". In this 12-week lab course we guide our students to think like scientists. We have them by pose hypotheses, design and modify their own experiments, analyze their data and interpret the results in a biologically meaningful manner. We first introduce students to common organisms in the local environment and their responses to changes in the ecosystem. Students, working in small groups then design either a "measured-response" or a "choice" experiment. The students order equipment, materials and the necessary organisms to implement the experiment for two separate three-hour lab periods. Using basic statistics, the students determine whether their results show significant effects of their factor and provide a biological explanation of their results in both written and oral format. We outline how this course is delivered and present the activities used to introduce students to handling their animals and possible experimental procedures. Does it work? Student evaluations of the course as well as concept inventories on experimental design and interpretation of data document significant student gains in scientific thinking.

Keywords:  experimental design, inquiry, concept inventory

University of Oregon (2014)