My colleague Ali, a fellow Lecturer in Educational Development has special responsibility for the School of Mathematics, Computer Science & Engineering. Many of the staff that she supports in this school are engaged in lab teaching, and so she’s identified a few key resources which may be useful to those of you who teach in labs (whether you’re in SMCSE or another school).

Learning and Teaching in Laboratories: an Engineering Subject Centre Guide by Clara Davies.

This resource considers the practical challenges of designing laboratory learning within a modern engineering curriculum. It provides ideas and practical guidance for people new to teaching and for more experienced people looking to rethink or reinvigorate their approach.

Stanford Teaching Commons Laboratory Teaching Guidelines

The laboratory is an exciting place where students investigate, analyse, and reflect. They test and apply theories and make abstract concepts concrete. However, the process of investigation doesn’t always run smoothly, and students need guidelines to make sense of their results. This guide contains strategies for designing and supervising effective sessions.

The Role of Computer Labs in Teaching and Learning Process in The Field of Mathematical Sciences

This paper discusses the use of a computer lab among lecturers at the School of Mathematical Sciences, Faculty of Science and Technology, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. The objective is to determine the role of the computer lab as a medium of teaching and learning process in mathematical sciences. The paper ends with some appropriate approaches to promote the use of computer labs in the teaching and learning process.

Flinders University Science Demonstrators Handbook

This handbook gives a useful overview of many aspects of science demonstrating in the laboratory, and the kinds of things you will need to consider. Some of it is specific to people actually working at Flinders (i.e. payroll advice, local emergency phone numbers), but the teaching and learning advice is quite universal, and applicable to anyone working in the lab environment.

Part of Establishing a Teaching Persona, the course for PhD students who teach at City, involved the opportunity to chat directly with a member of LEaD about a particular type of teaching. Ali, who works in the academic team as a Lecturer in Educational Development, with special responsibility for the School of Mathematics, Computer Science & Engineering, was there to discuss lab teaching, and has produced a ‘Lab Demonstrating Guide‘ which provides advice for working with students in labs, and links to further resources.

Ali’s hints and tips for effective lab work with students:

• Ask questions that open up the subject, or other possibilities; lead students towards answering their own questions, where possible, through consideration of their actions;
• Use the lab to explicitly build on current knowledge and lead the student through chains of reasoning; do not simply answer student questions (unless the question really does warrant a simple answer, like ‘where do I…’);
• Be approachable – friendly, available, equitable and helpful – especially to those students who are new to working in a lab environment, e.g. Level 4 (first year) students;
• Be proactive as well as reactive – recognise those having difficulties. Encourage active participation by students and counter any “freeloaders” by encouraging all students to participate when you are working with groups;
• Draw comparisons and parallels between laboratory work and professional practice.

Checking on the progress of students in the lab environment is essential due to health and safety concerns. With safety as a primary concern the need for you to be alert to student activities, and prepared to intervene, is increased when compared to some other teaching situations:

• Make sure you are clear on your role in the lab environment, the protocol to be carried out, and what support you are being asked to provide;
• Clarify safety requirements and procedures and make sure there are no equipment issues; be proactive with students in ensuring equipment is used safely;
• Ensure you know any parameters for feedback you need to give, particularly if you are to be involved in assessing students’ work.

Approaching students whilst they undertake a lab exercise or experiment might feel intimidating at first – you might feel awkward, as if you’re interrupting them, and be unsure about what kind of questions to ask them. However, being proactive, rather than waiting to be asked for help, means that you can move around the room and get to know the students, and also use questions to check their existing knowledge, and help to scaffold their understanding of what they’re learning.

You might want to start with something more basic, to build up students’ confidence in answering questions. These are some different types of questions you might use:

• Factual: What is this?
• Convergent: Why has this happened?
• Divergent: What could happen if? How could you test/measure X?
• Evaluative/Analytical: So what? What does this mean?

If you’re given a wrong answer, try to correct it in a supportive way – students need to know that it’s ok to fail. When one student from a group has answered, make sure that you make eye contact with the rest of the group when responding, so that they all feel involved. And don’t be afraid of pauses – when you’ve asked something, especially if you’re feeling a bit nervous or artificial in your interactions with students, it’s really tempting to ask something, and if no response is forthcoming within about two seconds, to instantly rephrase it and ask again, or start answering yourself. I know I used to do it all the time when I started teaching, but it can be confusing for students, who might just need some time to think.

Here are some useful questions to use when teaching in a lab environment:

• What would you predict would happen if…?
• What are you assuming?
• At which point did you get lost/did X happen?
• Why has this happened?
• What have you done so far?
• Why do you think this is wrong?
• Which part specifically do you find confusing?
• What do you think the answer should be? In what range? What are the units/dimensions?
• How can you figure this out/calculate this?
• Tell me about the theory from the lecture behind this
• What do the lab instructions say (exactly!)?
• What is important about what you see/observe/results here?
• Who is doing what in this group? Have you all swapped roles?

This post has adapted materials from Dr Giles Martin, Bath Spa University and the University of Western Ontario’s Graduate Handbook.

Have you got any other examples of questions which have worked particularly well in your lab teaching?