1Third Misconceptions Seminar Proceedings (1993) Paper Title: Learning Physics in the Laboratory

Abstract: Among students and many people in the wider community, physics is perceived as a discipline which emphasises the acquisition of rules, theorems, procedures and skills in highly abstracted forms at the expense of meaningful integration of knowledge with technology and everyday occurrences (Romer, 1993). Assessment methods reinforce this approach with success in examinations being heavily dependent on factual recall and rote learning. The situation is similar in the traditional undergraduate laboratory. Many student physics laboratories reveal a history of the teacher as the sole source of a body of knowledge which is transmitted to students through controlled verification exercises (Hegarty-Hazel, 1986;1990). There is little or no encouragement for independent investigation or scientific enquiry. Students are rarely asked to explore a phenomenon, develop a procedure, design or construct apparatus or formulate tests on scientific models. The learning experiences do not seem to be characterised by recognition of the student as a learner, by student autonomy or, by students’ reflecting on their learning. Overall, it seems that students have a very narrow range of learning experiences in physics laboratories and a poor appreciation of the role of physics in industry and everyday life