A comparative study of learning designs for the transformation of knowledge in undergraduate laboratory physics

Niels Bonderup Dohn, Nina Bonderup Dohn

    Research output: Contribution to book/anthology/report/proceedingBook chapterResearchpeer-review

    Abstract

    This chapter reports on a study concerning students’ transformation of knowledge in undergraduate laboratory physics, focusing on the relationship between manuals, lab experiments and report. The study involved a change of learning design from a traditional ‘cook-book’ format to an inquiry-based one. In the cook-book learning design, students had to undertake clearly specified procedures and calculations with the aim of having physics concepts and theories illustrated to them empirically. In the inquiry-based one, they themselves had to pose a research question within a field of physics, design lab experiments to investigate this question and carry out the experiments. The first section introduces the rationale behind the study. The second section explicates the setting of the study and the research methodology. The third section presents the results, focusing on the positioning and subject-focused knowledge forms displayed in the lab manuals, the reports and the lab experiments for the two learning designs. In conclusion, it is suggested that implicit expectations on the part of both students and instructors as regards students’ laboratory work and knowledge documentation may have influenced the utilisation of the inquiry-based learning design decisively and adversely.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationDesigning for Situated Knowledge Transformation
    EditorsNina Bonderup Dohn, Stig Børsen Hansen, Jens Jørgen Hansen
    Number of pages17
    Place of publicationOxon
    PublisherRoutledge
    Publication date2019
    Pages231-248
    Chapter14
    ISBN (Print)9780367225735
    ISBN (Electronic)9780429275692
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - 2019
    SeriesRoutledge Research in Education

    Keywords

    • Videregående uddannelse
    • Naturfag/science education
    • Læring og læringsmiljøer

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