The Effectiveness of a Must-Have Practical Work in Tertiary Life Science Education

Constantinou, Marina and Fotou, Nikolaos (2020) The Effectiveness of a Must-Have Practical Work in Tertiary Life Science Education. Information, 11 (9). pp. 401-414. ISSN 2078-2489

Full content URL: https://doi.org/10.3390/info11090401

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The Effectiveness of a Must-Have Practical Work in Tertiary Life Science Education
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Abstract

The teaching of sciences has long been associated with practical work; an instructional tool
that is believed to be effective in terms of both promoting learning as well as making the teaching
of sciences enjoyable. However, empirical evidence on its effectiveness as a teaching method and
whether it has any affective value for undergraduates is still lacking, when it has been deemed as
one of the costliest aspects of science education. This paper reports on the preliminary findings of a
mixed-methods case study conducted at a British university to examine the perceived aims of practical
work as well as the effectiveness of practical work on conceptual understanding and motivating
undergraduates according to the academic staff of a life sciences department. For the qualitative
data presented here a questionnaire was administered to the academic staff who, along with Year
1 and Year 2 undergraduates, were interviewed and also observed during practical work classes.
The preliminary findings showed that the perceived aims of practical work by the academic staff
vary across years, while the observations revealed two types of lessons in which the importance of
providing theoretical scaffolds during experiments so as to help undergraduates in linking concepts
and theories with observables was prominent

Keywords:Practical Work, Biology Practical Work, practical work in HE, Undergraduate practical work
Subjects:X Education > X210 Research skills
X Education > X340 Academic studies in Tertiary Education
X Education > X342 Academic studies in Higher Education
X Education > X142 Training Teachers - Higher Education
Divisions:College of Social Science
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ID Code:42226
Deposited On:09 Sep 2020 16:05

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