Practical or laboratory classes
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- Aims of practical work.
- Why do practical work?
- Health and safety.
- Hints, tips and suggestions.
- Further information.
1. Aims of practical work
In the majority of undergraduate programmes taught in the sciences, engineering and medical disciplines students will be required to undertake practical work. Indeed such teaching may contribute a significant proportion of the taught component of the course and account for the majority of a student's contact time with staff.
The aims of practical work vary but usually include:
- Linking theory with practice.
- Developing hands-on skills and techniques.
- Learning how to use equipment.
- Understanding the scientific method.
- Developing problem solving skills.
- Data analysis.
- Professional skills development - e.g. team work, presenting findings etc.
- Induction into the ‘ways of thinking and practising' in the subject - learning to think and behave like an engineer/chemist etc.
- Opportunity for staff and students to talk about the subject.
In the first year students are usually asked to follow protocols and familiarise themselves with basic methods and equipment. In later years students will be expected to design and plan their own experiments and investigations which could ultimately conclude with the students undertaking a major piece of individual project work.
2. Why do practical work?
The underpinning educational theory for practical work is that of experiential learning or ‘learning by and through doing'. So a key belief is that the students need to have experience of carrying out learning tasks and then reflecting on them critically. The ‘writing-up' or reporting of practical work is therefore very important. Students are frequently guided to critique their work and propose improvements on the approaches they took and the results they achieved.
Depending on the discipline practical sessions may run over a whole day or half a day and be supervised by academic staff, laboratory technicians and postgraduate demonstrators. This teaching team is responsible for the effective and safe study of the students.
3. Health and safety
If you are responsible for designing and delivering a series of laboratory or practical teaching sessions a key concern for you will be health and safety. This is an area covered by legislation and university codes of practice. It is important that you are familiar with the university requirements and work to ensure that you meet the stipulated core standards. For example, every experimental protocol that your students follow must have been risk-assessed and appropriate documentation completed (COSHH health and safety forms). The trained first-aiders in your school/department should be known to you and you should also be familiar with the procedures for responding to and recording accidents.
4. Hints, tips and suggestions
Organising practical work is very time-consuming and should be started early. Liaise with the technical team responsible for the teaching laboratories and equipment and keep in close communication with them.
If you have postgraduate demonstrators working with you in the laboratory ensure that they are fully briefed and prepared for the class. If necessary organise practise sessions for them so that they can carry out all the procedures and techniques with confidence and can respond to questions sensibly. The guidance notes for demonstrators produced by Oxford Brookes University in their ‘First Words' Teaching and Learning guide may also be useful.
If teaching first year laboratory classes it is worth considering assessment issues - as these classes are frequently very large and marking laboratory reports each week will give a significant workload. Ian Hughes in the article cited below discusses a range of other approaches. It is also important to think about progression of skills across the years of the degree programme: the skills the students are bringing to your practical/laboratory class; what they are gaining from the class: the skills they will need in future practical/project work.
5. Further information
Boud, D., Dunn, J. and Hegarty-Hazel, E., 1986. Teaching in Laboratories. SRHE & NFER-NELSON.
Brown, G., and Atkins, M., 1988. Effective Laboratory Teaching in Effective Teaching in Higher Education, p 91-114. London: RoutledgeFalmer.
Doyle, C. and Robson, K., 2002. Accessible Curricula: Good Practice for All. (PDF download). Cardiff: UWIC Press.
Sections 5 and 6 focus on Laboratory Practicals and Work Placements and Field Trips.
Forster, F., Hounsell, D. and Thompson, S. (eds.), 1995. Tutoring and Demonstrating. Centre for Teaching, Learning and Assessment, University of Edinburgh/UCoSDA.
Hughes, I., 2004. Coping strategies for staff involved in assessment of laboratory write-ups. Bioscience Education Electronic Journal, Volume 3 (click to download the article).
HE Academy Subject Centre for Geography, Earth and Environmental Sciences (GEES)