Rethinking The Nature Of Experimental Learning: Moving Beyond Conventional Laboratory Experiences

Laboratory experimentation is an important educational tool across many disciplines, providing a mechanism for students to enhance their understanding of the relationships between theoretical models and physical reality. However, whilst laboratories are used extensively, the existing approaches to experimental learning have evolved little in the last 100 years, the intended learning outcomes are often poorly articulated and the connection between the learning outcomes and the student experiences is unclear. These limitations hasve meant that the development of laboratory experiences has tended to be driven by a combination of history, the capability of physical laboratory environments, and technological opportunity (e.g. the feasibility of rich simulations or remotely accessed laboratories) rather than pedagogic considerations or a deeper understanding of the role of experimentation within the educational process. Indeed many “new” laboratory innovations tend to only be technologically-enhanced versions of conventional experiences rather than leveraging the affordances of new technologies. In this paper we explore the nature of experimental learning and the extent to which we can achieve improved educational outcomes by a reconceptualization of the nature of this form of learning.