The goals, aims and objectives we talked about in the last unit assist a lot in determining the aching strategies for laboratory work. In this chapter, we would see how aims and objectives may be translated into the laboratory strategies and tactics which students have to undertake. These teaching strategies will comprised of a general plan which includes structure, desired tended outcome in term of goals of instructor and an outline of planned tactics necessary to implement the strategy.

In this unit, three teaching strategies viz a) Controlled exercises; b) Experimental investigations and c) Research projects are being described for the laboratory. The allied material referred to I is unit gives you an ample opportunity to plan and organize your Laboratory work. The development of laboratory courses occurs in a number of ways. It may be the result of a decision to mount a new course in an existing or a new programme; more commonly, it can occur on an ad hoc basis when particular experiments are modified or new ones introduced. This may be a spouse to some need to upgrade the content of the course in order to produce new methods, techniques or apparatus, or it may be required to address some deficiency which has been identified by an evaluation. The instruction of an entirely new laboratory course, with activities which have not been used elsewhere in some form or another, is a very rare event and a luxury which few departments can afford because of the substantial cost and fort required.

The danger is changing laboratory courses through adhoc revision or rough putting together a collection of activities used previously is that the course will lack coherence and may appear to the students to be a random collection of odds and ends. It is not sufficient that the activities have some face validity in terms of the content of the course: if the course is to do more than simply introduce a number of methods and techniques it must be planned to ensure that it develops the experimental and analytical skills of the students and is founded in the structure of the discipline. Without this the laboratory can generate into a playground of out-to-date gadgets. Nevertheless, we cannot usually start from first principles and are normally obliged to fit in with the existing pattern of teaching activity.

We have seen in unit 1 how considerations of general goals, aims and objectives can assist in planning for laboratory courses. The next step is to see how these can be translated into the laboratory activities that students are to undertake. We should be considering teaching plans: that is, what course planners do to ensure that the hoped for learning experiences take place and the desired outcomes are achieved. Staff has all sorts of things in mind when they are planning any course. There are bits of subject matter they would like to see included, ideas for experiments, enjoyable events, memorable episodes, interesting phenomena they would like to portray, and novel techniques they would like to demonstrate. These can come to mind at any time in the planning process and it is important to record them for later use where appropriate. One way to start is to focus on what Posner and Rudnitsky S2 term central questions and to group the jottings and ideas one has collected around them. In the laboratory context such central questions might include: What are the important techniques to be used? What is the main subject theme to be pursued? What are the key skills to develop? What are the chief attitudes to inculcate? The jottings might themselves suggest central questions otherwise overlooked.

The idea generation stage is necessarily an open-ended one with a strong emphasis on creativity and intuition. But there comes a time when ideas have to be discussed by all those involved in the planning and related to the rational plan which is being formulated. They need to be connected to the general goals, aims and objectives and the teaching plans flowing from them. Acceptance of some of these ideas may make for modification of the goals, aims and objectives and in some cases overturn what were quite systematic, but perhaps pedestrian, intentions. Bright ideas need to natured, but ultimately they need to be subject to a check on their validity and practicability.

Laboratory courses can be organized in many different ways, all broadly classifiable into three main ways depending on their purposes and the degree of detailed control exercised by staff over student’s activities. We have called these ways of organization controlled exercises, personalized system of Instruction, experimental investigations and research projects (after Carter and Lee 1981).

• Controlled exercises are defined as activities which are wholly devised by the staff and can be completed by the students in one or two laboratory periods. The strategies in this category are well suited to the development of fundamental skills and techniques that can be well specified and practiced to give a high degree of competence.
• Experimental investigations defined as longer activities, normally set by the class supervisor and including elements of the choice of procedure and methods of data analysis by the student. This type of practical work may well extend over several laboratory periods. The strategies in this category are well suited to the development of investigational skills, such as using literature, and aspects of experimental design and planning. These activities can give practice in aspects of scientific inquiry.
• Research projects significant pieces of work that may occupy the practical sessions for a term, semester or even one or two years of an undergraduate course. A problem, which is original or novel, is usually defined by a staff member or research group, then selected by a student and thereafter pursued on a consultative basis between the student and research project supervisor. Strategies inquiry skills previously discussed into one coherent activity, and are intended to simulate elements of real-life research and development activities.

OBJECTIVES

Enter going through this unit, it is expected that you will be able to:

1. learning about teaching strategies of laboratory such as Controlled exercises, experimental investigations and Research projects;
2. distinguish among these three types of teaching strategies of laboratory;
3. present critiques, on these teaching strategies of laboratory;
4. bring changes and modify your laboratory as science teacher or science educationist.