Less Teaching, More Learning: A 10 Year Study Supports Greater Inquiry in Labs. Even Alongside Less Coverage, Yields Steady Gains in Student Learning of Biology

 

Douglas B. Luckie

Tested Studies in Laboratory Teaching, 2013, Volume 34

Abstract

In this study we compared gains in student content learning over a 10-year period in which the introductory biology classroom laboratory curriculum was changed in two ways: an increase of inquiry and a reduction of content. Three lab formats tested were: traditional weeklong cookbook labs, two 7-week long inquiry labs and one 14-week long inquiry lab curriculum. As the level of inquiry increased, student learning gains on content exams trended upward even while traditional content coverage taught decreased. In a quantitative assessment of content knowledge, students who participated in the 14-week long inquiry lab format outscored their peers in both 7-week and 1-week long lab formats on MCAT-style standardized exams (62.6, 59.3, 48.9% scores respectively; p

Keywords:  teaching assistants

University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill (2012)