Exploring
Plant Metabolism & Productivity Part 2 |
||
Scientific Skills - In the context of this lab students will practice and receive feedback on
Learning
Theory & Pedagogy The traditional approach to
introductory biology labs has been to "cover"
essential concepts and processes in class and then to
immerse students in a highly guided hand-on lab
experience which asks students to use these concepts
to explain data. Labs are often designed to
confirm that a biological process is indeed occurring
as we would predict. These "confirmatory"
labs require that students have been exposed to these
abstract concepts and detailed processes prior
to lab which are then often learned devoid any
meaningful context to the learner.
However, in science it is observations that drive
further exploration, not the reverse. Moreover, in courses taught
using more traditional lab experiences, there is
pressure to cover concepts prior to lab. This is
often quite difficult, particularly in courses where
class and lab are not taught by the same instructor,
and where there is little flexibility in the lab
schedule. Therefore
the purpose of this lab is not to teach students about
the details of plant metabolism, rather it is to
immerse them in a semi-guided exploration which yields
observations that are intended to help students
understand the broader connections between plant
metabolic processes and morphological
adaptations. This lab is meant to precede
a more detailed exploration of plant metabolic
processes, and to provide a context for deeper
exploration. This lab is also designed around the idea
that students are likely to be more invested in a
science experiment if they are allowed to make
critical decisions about its' design and
execution. This elicits student ownership of the
experiment, and generates intrinsic interest in the
outcome.
Required Materials
|