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Pre-Lab Assignments
A. Advantages of using pre-lab assignments
Pre-lab assignments are tasks or homework that students complete before arriving in class for the lab period. Pre-lab assignments motivate students to prepare for the lab and help students connect theory with an experiment.
There are several advantages for students in using a pre-lab assignment:
- They are better prepared for the lab exercise.
- Experiments and exercises themselves go more smoothly, since students are familiar with the processes.
- Their understanding of the material is heightened.
There are advantages for the instructor as well:
- It streamlines the process of writing a pre-lab introduction (see related section).
- It can make it easier to teach the theory behind the lab, since students will have a firmer understanding of the principles behind it.
The only disadvantage of using pre-lab assignments is that they take time to write and grade.
For many of the lab classes you will teach, the professor may already have pre-lab assignments written for you to give your students. However, in cases where there are no pre-lab assignments written into the course already, you may choose to create and implement your own.
B. Concepts and Types of Questions
First, think about the concepts you feel are important to address in a pre-lab assignment. What do you want your students to have understood or thought about before they arrive in lab?
Some of the topics you might ask your students to think about in a pre-lab exercise include:
- concepts and theory
- procedure and methods
- troubleshooting and other experimental issues
- prediction of trends in data or other qualitative questions about data
- quantitative questions such as calculations with simulated data
- interpretation of simulated results
C. Connection with Pre-Lab Introduction
It is important to consider how you will introduce the lab on the day of the lab section. It is most common to give a short pre-lab introduction (see related section).
- Connecting the questions and concepts addressed in your pre-lab assignment with those that you plan to address in your pre-lab introduction helps make certain that these two aspects of lab preparation complement each other.
- Use discussion of the pre-lab assignment as a starting point for the pre-lab introduction and as a tool for introducing the lab. In fact, you should go over at least some part of the pre-lab assignment at the beginning of the lab period. This ensures that students have understood the material and concepts therein before the lab exercise begins.
D. Format
Several ways you may format your pre-lab assignment, each with advantages or disadvantages depending on the material, your class, and the outcomes you wish to achieve from the assignment:
- Worksheet done before lab (handed in at the beginning of lab): This format works well if you can create well-defined questions to help your students consider some theory or concepts related to the lab. Sometimes giving students sample calculations, data, or experiments on a worksheet is also helpful, if the lab material lends itself to this approach.
- Assignment worth a few points (handed in at the beginning of lab): This is useful when preparing fully for the lab requires students to research information on their own prior to the lab period. You can also make this a small group assignment that a lab group or lab partners can do together to prepare for lab or to think about important concepts relating to the lab.
- Quiz at the start of lab: This is most useful if you want to ensure your students are preparing for lab on their own by reading the lab or background materials in advance. Again it works well if you write a quiz that can be a starting point for discussion or introduction to the lab.
- Preparation of lab notebook (checked at the start of lab): This can work well if having a comprehensive lab notebook is crucial to the students' understanding of the lab material (anatomy courses involving dissections and labeling structures, are one example). Checking the students' lab notebooks can help confirm that students are making the best use of their lab time and taking away the most valuable information from the lab. It also is an incentive for students to organize their lab material well, thus maximizing the benefits of the lab period.
- Quiz on the web to be completed before class (currently implemented in Chem 1A at Berkeley): Pre-lab web quizzes can be an excellent way to use technology to help your students prepare for lab. Having students take the quiz on the Web before class will alert you to problems that students are having in understanding the materials. You can then take this into consideration when introducing the lab on the day of section.
How to Teach Lab Sections Links:
- The Pre-Lab
Teaching Resources Links:
- Creating Ground Rules for Discussion Sections
- Using Group Work in Discussion Sections
- Strategies for Variety in the Classroom
- Developing Critical Reading Skills
- How to Teach Lab Sections
- Award-winning Teaching Ideas (Teaching Effectiveness Award Essays)
- Theories of Learning
- Dealing with and Preventing Academic Dishonesty
- Grading Students' Written Work
- Understanding & Using Instructional Technology
- Five Ways to Improve Your Teaching
- How to Write a Letter of Recommendation
- Campus Resources
- FAQs
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