Conversion of Traditional Laboratories into Inquiry Based Laboratories

Georgia Southern has recently begun to offer introductory physics courses in a new format integrating lecture and laboratory courses into a single course in which most of the class time is devoted to active, inquiry-based learning. During the transition period, I had the opportunity to assess the effects of inquiry-based laboratories on student learning. My traditional laboratory students continued to use the departmental laboratory manual, which is very “cook-book” in nature, while my inquiry-based students completed guided inquiry laboratories. Assessment included identical post-laboratory quizzes completed by students in both courses immediately following select laboratory exercises. Results indicated inquiry-based students performed much better on the post-laboratory quizzes than students in traditional laboratories. In this session, I will introduce participants to the four levels of inquiry based laboratories (confirmation, structured inquiry, guided inquiry, and open inquiry) and share with participants both the benefits and difficulties associated with the implementation of inquiry based laboratories