Learning In and From Science Laboratories

This chapter reviews research on practical work in order to demonstrate not only its potential but also its challenges and problems. A main point to be made is that practical work is not a static issue but something that has evolved gradually over the years, and which is still developing. The development relates to changing aims for science education, to developments in understanding about science learning, to changing views and understanding of science inquiry and to more recent developments in educational technologies. To demonstrate this, we start with a review along historical lines, looking back at practical work research over the last 50 years during three periods: (1) 1960s to mid-1980s, (2) mid-1980s to mid-1990s and (3) the last 15 years. Following from this review, the second part of the chapter elaborates four different themes that summarise the state of affairs of practical work at the beginning of the twenty-first century and points towards new possibilities: how is practical work used by teachers, the influence of new technologies, ‘metacognition’ as a factor in laboratory learning and the issue of ‘scientific argumentation’ as a replacement for ‘scientific method’.

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