Association for Biology Laboratory Education

Rethinking the Pre-Lab Quiz
    



Advances in Biology Laboratory Education, 2024, Volume 44

Jonathan E. Moore

https://doi.org/10.37590/able.v44.extabs36

Abstract

Adequate student preparation before lab is vital to achieving learning goals, obtaining interpretable lab results, and having students feel capable,?empowered, and excited.? Many lab curricula seek to give that preparation through?pre-lab readings and videos with a subsequent quiz at the beginning?of lab time.? While this strategy is reasonably effective, it can cause considerable?stress for students (even though these quizzes are often a very token part of the grade)?and consumes valuable lab time.? During this ABLE mini, variations on the traditional?lab quiz were discussed. Summarized below are the ideas generated including online quizzes before lab time, group testing, alternatives to quizzes, grading approaches, and pre-lab materials.

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