Active participation by sophomore students in the design of experiments

Abstract

To achieve the greatest impact, subject matter should be taught in a manner that will engage the student's interest and connect each topic with the student's own lives and experiences. To motivate and aid the student in understanding the principles underlying the experiment, we should be using methods that stimulate their creativity and actively involve them in the learning process. Unfortunately, many laboratory experiments have become cook book situations in which the technology has obscured the working of the basic principles and the student has achieved little move than recording data or observing mysterious results. The utilization of simplified experiments that the students help design will keep the principle under investigation in clear view and should promote a better learning experience. In teaching the core principles of any program, it is crucial to apply the theoretical principles to the solution of a variety of common problems in which the student comes into contact in their everyday lives. A good instructor could present one example problem after another or assign many homework problems until the students demonstrated a complete understanding of the subject. However, by directly involving the student in the design and preparation of an experiment, the student is prepared to observe the direct relationships of the principles during the progress of the lab experiment.