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Having students design and develop laboratory exercises improves student learning outcomes in undergraduate physiology.
Author(s) -
Rodenbaugh David W.,
Failing Christopher J.,
Fuentes Evelyn,
Wagner Autumn A.,
Yard Bethany R.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
the faseb journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.709
H-Index - 277
eISSN - 1530-6860
pISSN - 0892-6638
DOI - 10.1096/fasebj.21.5.a220-a
Subject(s) - class (philosophy) , spirometer , comprehension , test (biology) , active learning (machine learning) , mathematics education , medical education , psychology , computer science , medicine , artificial intelligence , biology , exhaled nitric oxide , paleontology , asthma , bronchoconstriction , programming language
Science classes typically include laboratory exercises with the intent of providing complimentary active learning opportunities in conjunction with lectures. Involving students in the subject material improves student comprehension of complex scientific concepts. The goals of these laboratory exercises are to not only help students comprehend and internalize class material, but also improve critical thinking skills. Traditionally, laboratory activities are created by the instructor in advance. This format of laboratory activities may be beneficial; however, the pre‐made laboratory activities may not be the most effective active learning approach. Alternatively, we hypothesize that having students design one's own laboratory activity enhances learning and retention of complex concepts relative to students who only perform the lab. In order to test this hypothesis undergraduate research student were asked to design, and create two undergraduate physiology laboratories: a lab studying the mean electrical axis of the heart using the ECG; the other lab studying pulmonary function using a spirometer. A quiz assessing basic, intermediate, and advanced knowledge was given to research students before and six months after completing the laboratory designs. Similarly, human physiology students also took the pre‐ and post‐quizzes. However, the post‐quiz assessment occurred one week after completing the labs. Overall, the students who were not taking human physiology but designed labs scored 13% higher than the students who only performed the research student generated labs.