The Experience of Laboratory Learning – How Do Chemistry Students Perceive Their Learning Environment?

Abstract

Universities have in the recent years faced new challenges as the new generations of students enter the old institutions. We have to rethink both the physical facilities and the practices of higher education. Many of the incomers belong to the so-called digital natives who use various digital applications and mobile devices as integrated parts in their everyday lives. Their knowledge seeking and knowledge sharing activities are different from previous generations. This study stems from a need to acknowledge this gap in research on the changes in knowledge practices and their relationship to learning. The participants were university chemistry students, who were interviewed concerning their perceptions of the learning environments. The interviews revealed a variation in students’ perceptions. There was also a variation in how they felt the physical tools provided affordances for their cognition. Some students needed much more external scaffolding and procedural facilitation for their laboratory work. The results are in line with previous research on the domain-specific features in sciences. In the future, the results are going to be looked at more in-depth in relation to students’ epistemological beliefs.