Student Perceptions of Learning in the Laboratory: Comparison of Industrially Situated Virtual Laboratories to Capstone Physical Laboratories

Background This study compares students' perceptions of key cognitive processes and specific content afforded by an industrially situated virtual laboratory project and two physical laboratory projects. Purpose(Hypothesis) 1. How do students' perceptions of the nature of cognition, experimental design, and ambiguity compare across selected virtual and physical laboratory experiences? 2. In what ways do students perceive the virtual and physical laboratories as an authentic experience that is reflective of real-life engineering? Design/Method Three, free-response survey questions were quantitatively and qualitatively analyzed. Content analysis was used to establish categories to group the responses, and the coding process had an interrater reliability of 0.90. Results Student responses showed statistically significant increases in categories of Experimental Design, Critical Thinking, and Ambiguity in the virtual laboratories and in Lab Protocol and Specific Content in the physical laboratories. Additionally, more overall High Cognition statements were observed in the virtual laboratory. Student perceptions of ambiguity shifted from ambiguity in the instruction to an ambiguity in the experimental process itself, and many students were able to suspend disbelief in the virtual laboratories and demonstrated psychological presence, leading to the potential for a rich learning experience. Conclusion The industrially situated virtual laboratories reported in this paper provide affordances for substantially different student thinking about their thinking than the physical laboratories in the same course. This conclusion does not suggest that the differences are a direct result of the medium of the laboratory (virtual vs. physical) but rather the opportunities that the instructional design of each type of laboratory affords.

[1]  Thomas C. Harmon,et al.  An Interactive Database Supporting Virtual Fieldwork in an Environmental Engineering Design Project , 2002 .

[2]  L.J. Leifer,et al.  Engineering design thinking, teaching, and learning , 2005, IEEE Engineering Management Review.

[3]  Jeffrey V. Nickerson,et al.  Hands-on, simulated, and remote laboratories: A comparative literature review , 2006, CSUR.

[4]  John R. Bourne,et al.  Virtual Engineering Laboratories: Design and Experiments , 1994 .

[5]  Frank E. Ritter,et al.  Model-based evaluation of expert cell phone menu interaction , 2007, TCHI.

[6]  M. Lightner,et al.  Virtual Circuit Laboratory * , 2001 .

[7]  Zoltan K. Nagy,et al.  Applying Kolb's Experiential Learning Cycle for Laboratory Education , 2009 .

[8]  Joseph Krajcik,et al.  A Scaffolding Design Framework for Software to Support Science Inquiry , 2004, The Journal of the Learning Sciences.

[9]  Dongil Shin,et al.  Web-based interactive virtual laboratory system for unit operations and process systems engineering education , 2000 .

[10]  N. Nersessian,et al.  The distribution of representation , 2006 .

[11]  Jeffrey V. Nickerson,et al.  Constructing reality: A study of remote, hands-on, and simulated laboratories , 2007, TCHI.

[12]  Nancy J. Nersessian,et al.  How Do Engineering Scientists Think? Model-Based Simulation in Biomedical Engineering Research Laboratories , 2009, Top. Cogn. Sci..

[13]  Euan Lindsay,et al.  Effects of laboratory access modes upon learning outcomes , 2005, IEEE Transactions on Education.

[14]  Sho Kimura,et al.  Enhancement of Student Learning in Experimental Design Using a Virtual Laboratory , 2008, IEEE Transactions on Education.

[15]  Rafael A. Calvo,et al.  Students' Conceptions of Tutor and Automated Feedback in Professional Writing , 2010 .

[16]  Michael C. Dorneich,et al.  The UIUC Virtual Spectrometer: A Java‐Based Collaborative Learning Environment , 2001 .

[17]  Thomas C. Harmon,et al.  The impact of a simulation-based learning design project on student learning , 2001, IEEE Trans. Educ..

[18]  L. Schauble,et al.  Design Experiments in Educational Research , 2003 .

[19]  Maria Araceli Ruiz-Primo,et al.  Windows into the mind , 2005 .

[20]  Albert J. Rosa,et al.  The Role of the Laboratory in Undergraduate Engineering Education , 2005 .

[21]  Marc Couture,et al.  Realism in the design process and credibility of a simulation-based virtual laboratory , 2004, J. Comput. Assist. Learn..

[22]  Zoltan K. Nagy,et al.  The TriLab, a novel ICT based triple access mode laboratory education model , 2011, Comput. Educ..

[23]  Theodore F. Wiesner,et al.  Comparison of Student Learning in Physical and Simulated Unit Operations Experiments , 2004 .

[24]  Joseph Krajcik,et al.  Promoting understanding of chemical representations: Students' use of a visualization tool in the classroom , 2001 .

[25]  Recep Kaya Göktaş,et al.  Exploring Engineering Graduate Student Research Proficiency with Student Surveys , 2010 .

[26]  Michael J. Singer,et al.  Measuring Presence in Virtual Environments: A Presence Questionnaire , 1998, Presence.

[27]  Gregory L. Waddoups,et al.  The "Virtual ChemLab" Project: A Realistic and Sophisticated Simulation of Organic Synthesis and Organic Qualitative Analysis , 2005 .

[28]  T. Andre,et al.  Using computer simulations to enhance conceptual change: the roles of constructivist instruction and student epistemological beliefs , 1996 .

[29]  J. Huppert,et al.  Computer simulations in the high school: Students' cognitive stages, science process skills and academic achievement in microbiology , 2002 .

[30]  P. Cobb.  Where Is the Mind? Constructivist and Sociocultural Perspectives on Mathematical Development , 1994 .

[31]  Sepe Sehati.  Re-Engineering the Practical Laboratory Session , 2000 .

[32]  Alessandro Antonietti,et al.  The Representation of Virtual Reality in Education , 2000, Education and Information Technologies.

[33]  P. Pintrich,et al.  The Development of Epistemological Theories: Beliefs About Knowledge and Knowing and Their Relation to Learning , 1997 .

[34]  Milo Koretsky,et al.  Representations Of Student Model Development In Virtual Laboratories Based On A Cognitive Apprenticeship Instructional Design , 2010 .

[35]  C. Wieman,et al.  Transforming Physics Education , 2005 .

[36]  Milo Koretsky,et al.  Teaching Experimental Design Using Virtual Laboratories: Development, Implementation And Assessment Of The Virtual Bioreactor Laboratory , 2008 .

[37]  Vincent N. Lunetta,et al.  The Laboratory in Science Education: Foundations for the Twenty-First Century , 2004 .

[38]  G.N. Svarovsky,et al.  Design meetings and design notebooks as tools for reflection in the engineering design course , 2006, Proceedings. Frontiers in Education. 36th Annual Conference.

[39]  Edith S. Gummer,et al.  Comparison Of Student Perceptions Of Virtual And Physical Laboratories , 2009 .

[40]  Lara M. Triona,et al.  Hands on What? The Relative Effectiveness of Physical versus Virtual Materials in an Engineering Design Project by Middle School Children , 2007 .

[41]  Moti Frank.  Knowledge, abilities, cognitive characteristics and behavioral competences of engineers with high capacity for engineering systems thinking (CEST) , 2006 .

[42]  Patricia A. Heller,et al.  Teaching problem solving through cooperative grouping. Part 1: Group versus individual problem solving , 1992 .

[43]  Noah S. Podolefsky,et al.  When learning about the real world is better done virtually: A study of substituting computer simulations for laboratory equipment , 2005 .

[44]  Eugenia Etkina,et al.  College Physics Students' Epistemological Self-Reflection and Its Relationship to Conceptual Learning. , 2002 .

[45]  Eugenia Etkina,et al.  Design and Reflection Help Students Develop Scientific Abilities: Learning in Introductory Physics Laboratories , 2010 .

[46]  P. Hewson,et al.  Accommodation of a scientific conception: Toward a theory of conceptual change , 1982 .

[47]  Z. C. Zacharia,et al.  Comparing and combining real and virtual experimentation: an effort to enhance students' conceptual understanding of electric circuits , 2007, J. Comput. Assist. Learn..

[48]  Milo Koretsky,et al.  2006-1009: EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING OF DESIGN OF EXPERIMENTS USING A VIRTUAL CVD REACTOR , 2006 .

[49]  Richard Lesh,et al.  Problem Solving, Modeling, and Local Conceptual Development , 2003 .

[50]  A. Collins,et al.  Situated Cognition and the Culture of Learning , 1989 .

[51]  Mehmet Sahin,et al.  Effects of Problem-Based Learning on University Students’ Epistemological Beliefs About Physics and Physics Learning and Conceptual Understanding of Newtonian Mechanics , 2010 .

[52]  Gintaras V. Reklaitis,et al.  The Purdue‐Dow Styrene‐Butadiene Polymerization Simulation , 1995 .

[53]  Andrew Elby,et al.  The impact of epistemology on learning: A case study from introductory physics , 2004 .

[54]  Milo Koretsky,et al.  Fundamental Research in Engineering Education. Student Learning in Industrially Situated Virtual Laboratories. , 2011 .

[55]  Sung-Han Sim,et al.  Virtual laboratory for experimental structural dynamics , 2009, Comput. Appl. Eng. Educ..

[56]  David F. Treagust,et al.  Naïve Students’ Conceptual Development and Beliefs: The Need for Multiple Analyses to Determine what Contributes to Student Success in a University Introductory Physics Course , 2008 .

[57]  Michael J. Hannafin,et al.  Re-examining cognition during student-centered, Web-based learning , 2009 .

[58]  John R. Bourne,et al.  The Effectiveness of Learning Simulations for Electronic Laboratories , 2002 .

[59]  Cedric Linder,et al.  Equipment issues regarding the collection of video data for research. , 2005 .

[60]  Tobias Bjerregaard,et al.  A survey of research and practices of Network-on-chip , 2006, CSUR.

[61]  Milo Koretsky,et al.  AC 2007-2251: INSTRUCTIONAL DESIGN AND EVALUATION OF A VIRTUAL LABORATORY IN NANOELECTRONICS PROCESSING , 2007 .

[62]  Gintaras V. Reklaitis,et al.  Air Products hydrogen liquefaction project: Building a Web‐based simulation of an industrial process , 2001, Comput. Appl. Eng. Educ..