Abstract
A description of the implementation of a completely renewed setup for Physics Bachelor labs is given. The renewed setup made use of the latest educational research insights and is described from the general Dublin descriptors and the CALOHEE assessment and National domain specific reference frame up to the concrete learning objectives that we aim for in the Bachelor practicals. A choice between more open and closed labs is discussed. This study makes use of educational design research and therefore mostly tests design principles. In general, the design principles behind the renewed setup have worked and students have been given a need to perform each step in the research process. Despite the courses becoming more challenging, students’ results have gone up. We attribute this to specific types of iterations within the closed practicals and on the alternation between closed and open labs. Overall, most students attained the experimental skills that we aimed for and by the end of the practicals in year 2 most students also obtained the most relevant CALOHEE dimension of ‘Experimental design and scientific inquiry’, designed to assess students after year 3. The remaining obstacles are identified and suggestions for future improvements are given.
Highlights
One of the aims of physics education in university is to try to educate our students to become objective researchers
We have shown that the learning objectives we have developed for our students can be connected to the Dublin descriptors
We have shown that our program helped most of our students to attain the related CALOHEE dimension at the end of year 2 even though this dimension is designed to assess year 3 students
Summary
One of the aims of physics education in university is to try to educate our students to become objective researchers. There was a wish for better cohesion with various theory courses and a wish to align the labs with the research done in the research groups of our university. This called for a drastic redesign of our Bachelor labs and gave us a chance to implement a clear educational vision on the need for practicals. Even though communicating the results is an essential part of our labs in this paper we will focus on the research skills that we hope to develop in our students (Applying Knowledge and Understanding)
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