The National Research Council has identified five essential features of classroom inquiry. Each of these essential features can vary in the extent to which students or teachers direct the development and/or execution of the feature during an inquiry activity. In May 2012, the Advancing Chemistry by Enhancing Learning in the Laboratory (ACELL) project held a professional development workshop in which 24 general chemistry faculty from across the United States worked alongside 24 undergraduate students to experience and learn more about research-based laboratory pedagogies such as inquiry. Before and after the workshop, participants were asked to reflect on the amount of direction students should have�relative to each of the essential features of inquiry�during a laboratory activity. In this presentation, we will discuss the instructors' and students' perceptions of the amount of student direction that should be associated with each essential feature of inquiry in the laboratory environment. We will also discuss the influence of the ACELL workshop on these perceptions.

How student-directed should a chemistry laboratory activity be? The influence of the ACELL workshop on instructors' and students' perceptions

247th National Meeting (2014)

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