Phys. Rev. X 10, 011029 (2020)

Most scientists can remember boring undergraduate lab classes. You knew what the experiment should do because you had already learned about it in the lecture: the main task was to get everything to work. Now, Emily Smith and collaborators show that lab classes that aim to teach experimentation skills are arguably better than traditional content-reinforcement labs.

Credit: PvE / Alamy Stock Photo

One half of a cohort of students took lab classes that closely followed the lecture course and aimed to demonstrate its content. The other half were given lab classes that did not follow lecture material, but instead taught experimental skills as an end in their own right. As the semester progressed, less direction was given, forcing students to design their own experiments and make their own decisions.

Exam results were the same for both streams, but students taking the experimental skills labs reported significantly higher engagement with the classes and better long-term attitudes towards experimental physics.