Collaborative and active learning beyond the lecture hall

Abstract

Laboratory assignments and exercise sessions have great potential to be interactive
modes of learning where students have the opportunity to apply their knowledge.
Still, many such sessions are structured in a passive and individualistic way that
does not actively promote student learning. For example, many exercise sessions
are simply occasions where students solve problems independently, with the added
ability of asking the instructor for help should they get stuck. In the course lab,
experiments tend to be fully prepared by the teaching assistant (TA) before students
arrive, allowing students to proceed to perform tasks according to the lab manual by
the ”cookbook approach”. The aim of this work is to propose a way of planning lab assignments and exercises
in a way that promotes collaborative and active learning.