How Do Intended and Perceived Leaning Goals Influence Student Learning in an Introductory Chemistry Lab?

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 43
  In Roundtable Session: The Assessment of STEM in Multiple Contexts

Abstract

Universities have started to reconsider the laboratory as a space of learning due to high disagreement among educators with regard to their intentions and goals. As two models on the effectiveness of laboratory work propose, this also translates into the intentions of lab instructors and the expectations and perceptions of students they teach, which are most commonly found be not in alignment. This can be problematic as students need to understand the intended goals in order to have meaningful learning to occur. Using the example of a traditional introductory chemistry lab this study could not only replicate these findings, but also relate this low agreement to the students’ prior knowledge.

Authors

• Thomas Elert, University of Duisburg-Essen

• Maik Walpuski, University of Duisburg-Essen