Synopsis laboratory reports: effects on student learning and curricular benefits

Abstract

This study sought to identify effects on student learning of brief laboratory report versus lengthier laboratory report. 56 Iowa State University industrial technology students were randomized into one of two groups that were required to write five synopses followed by four traditional reports or vice-versa. Latin Square Design analysis revealed no difference in exam scores between students who wrote synopsis reports versus those who wrote traditional reports. Exit survey results revealed that students preferred synopsis format and perceived that synopsis format required them to think more deeply about content. Introduction Many industrial technology programs incorporate both component and laboratory (lab) component in order to help students increase their understanding of curriculum. Felder and Peretti [1] said, a basic tenet of learning theory that people learn by doing, not by watching and listening. Engineering laboratory courses are consequently crucial to learning and retention of engineering principles (p. 1). Industrial technology accreditation requirements similarly emphasize importance of laboratory experiences [2], 1 Graduate student, primary researcher, and author, Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering. 2 Associate Professor, Department of Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering. While some researchers [3, 4, 5] value of lab experiments, there no doubt that lab experiment commonly employed teaching tool in industrial technology. As Gillet, Latchman, Salzmann, and Crisalle, [6] stated, purpose of laboratory experiments in industrial technology is to motivate, illustrate, and enlighten presentation of subject matter addressed in lecture (p. 190). A written report of experiment and its findings often follows lab experiment in order to cause student to reflect on, summarize, and quantify laboratory experience. To learn by doing in laboratory, followed by reflecting on that experience and writing about it in form of report, can only further enhance learning. Lederman [7] said the assumption that students are likely to learn nature of science through implicit instruction (i.e. performance of scientific inquiry with no reflection on nature of activity) should be called into question (p. 928). A well-designed lab report asks student to reflect on activity, reading (assuming reading assignment has been done), and content, and synthesize these three into new, succinct document. These are goals of synopsis lab report format. Traditional and Synopsis Laboratoiy Reports Traditional Laboratory Reports. The traditional lab report, for purposes of this study, was defined as report in which subjects may take as much space as they wish in order to report information in Table 1. The traditional style of lab report written chronologically, similar to other documents that have purpose of reporting work. Doumont [8] said students present reason for work in an introduction (the before), detail this work in body (the during), and report its outcome in conclusion (the after) (p. 166). For purposes of this study, subjects were required to separate conclusion into two separate sections: discussion and conclusion. The discussion section was place to discuss experiment, procedures, and results, while conclusion was brief section that attempted to tie experiment to curricular content.