While there have been many calls to improve the quality of instructional physics labs, there exists little research on the effectiveness of lab instruction. This study provides a direct comparison between labs that have goals to reinforce physics content to those that emphasize experimentation skills. In this controlled study, all students attended the same lecture and discussion sections, had the same homework and exams, but attended labs that had one of two aims: teaching experimentation or reinforcing content. We compared students’ engagement with experimentation during the lab as well as the impacts on students’ exam performance and attitudes and beliefs about experimental physics. We found no measurable differences between lab conditions on students’ exam performance. Nonetheless, we found measurable and significant improvements in students’ engagement in expertlike experimentation practices and attitudes and beliefs about experimental physics for students in the experimentation labs. The benefits of the experimentation labs were stable across two subsequent semesters of implementation, as measured via standardized assessments. The results provide direct evidence of the extensive benefits of using labs to teach experimentation, while directly demonstrating that shifting instructional goals and structure in labs can occur without cost to performance on course exams.

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直接测量物理实验室中教学实验的影响

尽管有许多呼吁提高物理教学实验室的质量，但对实验室教学效果的研究却很少。这项研究提供了旨在增强物理内容的实验室与强调实验技能的实验室之间的直接比较。在这项对照研究中，所有学生都参加了相同的讲座和讨论部分，完成了相同的家庭作业和考试，但是参加了具有以下两个目的之一的实验室：教学实验或加强内容。我们比较了学生在实验室中的参与实验以及对学生考试成绩以及对实验物理学的态度和信念的影响。我们发现实验室条件对学生考试成绩的影响没有可测量的差异。尽管如此，我们发现，在实验实验室中，学生参与专家级实验实践以及对实验物理学的态度和信念方面可进行的测量有重大改进。实验实验室的收益在随后的两个学期实施中保持稳定，这是通过标准化评估得出的。结果直接证明了使用实验室进行实验教学的广泛益处，同时直接证明了在实验室中改变教学目标和结构可以在不影响课程考试成绩的情况下发生。通过标准化评估进行衡量。结果直接证明了使用实验室进行实验教学的广泛益处，同时直接证明了在实验室中改变教学目标和结构可以在不影响课程考试成绩的情况下发生。通过标准化评估进行衡量。结果直接证明了使用实验室进行实验教学的广泛益处，同时直接证明了在实验室中改变教学目标和结构可以在不影响课程考试成绩的情况下发生。