A Study of the Underlying Reasons and Consequences of Large Laboratory Groups

Abstract

Laboratory exercises, designed with the aim to activate the students and help to enhance the learning outcome, are of great importance at most of levels in science education, especially for engineering students in higher education.  A typical way of carrying out a laboratory exercise at the Engineering Faculty in Lund University (LTH) is to divide students into small groups, working together throughout the whole laboratory excise. This project aims to demonstrate the issues relevant to teaching of laboratory exercises with large groups, where there are quite limited experimental equipment and laboratory space. We propose a number of possible ways on how to improve the quality of teaching and maximize the learning outcomes of the students based on both  existing  pedagogical literatures  reviews, and answers from surveys amongst course responsible, lab instructors, and students at LTH.