Inquiring Minds Want to Know: Introducing Freshmen to Experimental Design

 

Cynthia Surmacz

Tested Studies in Laboratory Teaching, 2004, Volume 25

Abstract

Advocates of science education reform have encouraged us to replace our traditional “cookbooktype labs” with investigative or inquiry-based lab experiences (Beyond Biology 101, 1996; Fox and Hackerman, 2003). Investigative lab experiences engage students in asking their own questions, in designing and conducting their own experiments, and in analyzing and interpreting their own results. Such experiences model more closely how scientists actually learn about the natural world. This mini-workshop demonstrated lab activities that are used in our large multi-section, freshman biology lab at Bloomsburg University to introduce students to how biologists study life. The process of scientific inquiry and the elements of experimental design are initially introduced in lab through the examination of a literature-based case study. Students then work in groups to design and conduct their own experiments to explore aspects of termite behavior. This allows students to apply their learning from the case study and to engage directly in scientific inquiry. These activities portray biology as a creative and collaborative field of inquiry and not a list of facts to memorize. This same investigative approach is modeled again in subsequent labs and throughout our biology curriculum.

Keywords:  termites, Lyme disease

University of Nevada, Las Vegas (2003)