Proposal Title
Building community in undergraduate laboratory courses
Session Type
Workshop
Room
Somerville House, room 2355
Start Date
14-7-2023 11:30 AM
End Date
14-7-2023 12:20 PM
Keywords
laboratory, belonging, self-efficacy, curriculum
Primary Threads
Curriculum
Abstract
Laboratory courses provide essential experiential learning opportunities for students enrolled in undergraduate STEM programs. These courses enable students to apply their knowledge in practical settings to explore research questions and engage in critical thinking while working collaboratively with their peers (De Jong et al., 2013). Unfortunately, learning in a laboratory setting can be intimidating and may not be perceived as a positive experience by all students—anxiety about competency, concerns about safety, lacking a sense of belonging, unfamiliar expectations, pressure to perform, or fear of failure may heighten students’ anxiety and create barriers to student learning and engagement (Hua & Goldsmith, 2021, Knekta et al., 2020). Perceived negative outcomes and anxiety lowers students’ laboratory self-efficacy—the belief that one is capable of successfully accomplishing a task to achieve a desired goal—which jeopordizes successful academic outcomes (Kolil et al., 2020, Bandura, 1986).
In this workshop, we will engage participants in a discussion about opportunities and challenges for building community in undergraduate laboratory courses. Throughout the session, participants will be asked to reflect on their laboratory curriculum and explore how they can redesign course elements to encourage student belonging both within and outside the laboratory environment. A digital worksheet will be provided to help participants document their learnings and ideas, and at the end of the session, participants will have completed a preliminary Course Community Plan. This research was approved by our institutional research ethics board.
References
Bandura, A. (1986). The explanatory and predictive scope of self-efficacy theory. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 4(3), 359-373.
De Jong, T., Linn, M. C., & Zacharia, Z. C. (2013). Physical and virtual laboratories in science and engineering education. Science, 340(6130), 305-308.
Hsu, J. L., & Goldsmith, G. R. (2021). Instructor strategies to alleviate stress and anxiety among college and university STEM students. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 20(1), es1.
Knekta, E., Chatzikyriakidou, K., and McCartney, M. 2020. Evaluation of a questionnaire measuring University students' sense of belonging to and involvement in a biology department. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 19, 1-14.
Kolil, V. K., Muthupalani, S., & Achuthan, K. (2020). Virtual experimental platforms in chemistry laboratory education and its impact on experimental self-efficacy. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 17(1), 1-22.
Elements of Engagement
- Participant involvement in group discussions about how laboratory/experiential course design and delivery influences students' sense of belonging and self-efficacy
- Participants will be provided with a digital worksheet to guide/document reflections on barriers to building community in laboratory/experiential courses and prompts for brainstorming strategies to improve inclusive curriculum design/delivery
- All engagement strategies will be adapted for both in-person and online delivery
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 License.
Building community in undergraduate laboratory courses
Somerville House, room 2355
Laboratory courses provide essential experiential learning opportunities for students enrolled in undergraduate STEM programs. These courses enable students to apply their knowledge in practical settings to explore research questions and engage in critical thinking while working collaboratively with their peers (De Jong et al., 2013). Unfortunately, learning in a laboratory setting can be intimidating and may not be perceived as a positive experience by all students—anxiety about competency, concerns about safety, lacking a sense of belonging, unfamiliar expectations, pressure to perform, or fear of failure may heighten students’ anxiety and create barriers to student learning and engagement (Hua & Goldsmith, 2021, Knekta et al., 2020). Perceived negative outcomes and anxiety lowers students’ laboratory self-efficacy—the belief that one is capable of successfully accomplishing a task to achieve a desired goal—which jeopordizes successful academic outcomes (Kolil et al., 2020, Bandura, 1986).
In this workshop, we will engage participants in a discussion about opportunities and challenges for building community in undergraduate laboratory courses. Throughout the session, participants will be asked to reflect on their laboratory curriculum and explore how they can redesign course elements to encourage student belonging both within and outside the laboratory environment. A digital worksheet will be provided to help participants document their learnings and ideas, and at the end of the session, participants will have completed a preliminary Course Community Plan. This research was approved by our institutional research ethics board.
References
Bandura, A. (1986). The explanatory and predictive scope of self-efficacy theory. Journal of Social and Clinical Psychology, 4(3), 359-373.
De Jong, T., Linn, M. C., & Zacharia, Z. C. (2013). Physical and virtual laboratories in science and engineering education. Science, 340(6130), 305-308.
Hsu, J. L., & Goldsmith, G. R. (2021). Instructor strategies to alleviate stress and anxiety among college and university STEM students. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 20(1), es1.
Knekta, E., Chatzikyriakidou, K., and McCartney, M. 2020. Evaluation of a questionnaire measuring University students' sense of belonging to and involvement in a biology department. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 19, 1-14.
Kolil, V. K., Muthupalani, S., & Achuthan, K. (2020). Virtual experimental platforms in chemistry laboratory education and its impact on experimental self-efficacy. International Journal of Educational Technology in Higher Education, 17(1), 1-22.