Previous work has shown a misalignment between the goals of faculty and students for laboratory coursework. Although faculty often list learning techniques and developing critical thinking skills as goals, students tend to focus on goals that are, for most part, in the affective domain. The goals of faculty have been thoroughly investigated through both qualitative and large-scale quantitative studies. However, studies on student goals for laboratory coursework have primarily focused on qualitative methods. In order to provide a more comprehensive idea of students’ goals in the laboratory, we have designed a brief survey to administer at the national level. The survey was used to investigate students’ goals in the laboratory and build on existing literature by including survey questions that catalog how students plan on achieving their goals. In this study, we discuss results about students’ goals and achievement strategies, at the beginning of the semester and after completing the laboratory portion of the semester. We compare goals and strategies across different majors from our sample that currently consists of three Midwestern universities in the United States. Anonymous responses, via an online link to the survey, were collected from undergraduate students enrolled in chemistry courses. Preliminary results indicate at the beginning of the semester students consider goals related to obtaining good grades and preparing for their careers as most important and categorize scientific writing skills, and understanding how a research lab works as less important. In order to achieve their most important goals, achievement strategies include attempting to understand what they are doing in lab, managing their time more efficiently, and coming to lab prepared. These results could potentially inform the discussion among faculty regarding how to change the laboratory, and the course, curriculum to better align faculty and student goals.

Undergraduate students’ goals and achievement strategies for laboratory work: A quantitative study

256th National Meeting (2018)

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