When the lab work disappears - students perception of laboratory teaching for quality learning

During the spring of 2020, teaching laboratories worldwide were closed, and teachers quickly prepared online substitute activities.

This study investigated the students' experience of the substitution of laboratory teaching with theoretical activities. Twelve students were interviewed about their perspectives on what happened to their learning experience when the laboratory learning was replaced with theoretical online activities. Interviews were conducted 2−3 weeks after the lockdown of the teaching laboratories.

The results showed that the laboratory experience and the close connection to teachers in the laboratory setting play important roles for the scaffolding of students' learning through dialogue and feedback. The analysis was informed by describing the laboratory as a site for text production and illustrated the role of the teaching laboratory in shaping embodied understanding of the scientific knowledge production process through series of transformations.         

Click on the icon below to read more.