so far i've had labs in physics, chem, bio, and a&p i. i can safely say i'm not a fan of the labs. the lab stuff isn't difficult, it is just immensely frustrating. maybe i'm missing the point, but i just don't seem to get much out of them - especially considering the amount of time and effort you spend.
most of the time, i feel like there are too many people in lab trying to share equipment - or the equipment doesn't work correctly, or the experiment doesn't work correctly and after four hours all we get is the instructor explaining to us how it "would have looked" if everything had worked.
the instructors are usually spread too thin, and we try to cram in too many things at once so you just fly through everything to get done on time. in the end it just feels like you're going through the motions. we're just repeating experiments that have already been done a million times over - we never do anything exciting. if i have to dissect one more formaldehyde pickled fetal pig, rat, or frog...
this is probably a major factor for why i've never remotely considered getting a phd or doing scientific research.
i really feel like they're killing student's interest in science the way they teach sometimes. i don't think i'm the first to propose this, but i really do think we need to take a look at these ancient teaching methods and see if we can't improve upon them now. why can't students devise their own experiments once in a while? or maybe this does happen elsewhere and the schools that i've attended are just behind the curve?
I absolutely loved my labs! I have taken Intro to A&P, A&P I, A&P II, and Micro with labs. Our lab class was always small. I would say no more than 20 people and we never had a problem with space or materials. My lab helped me sooo much in my class and my grades!!!
The labs kill me. At least the ones in bio and chemistry did. Snore. I didn't learn a thing in the labs and it just felt like a waste of time to me. Torture is what I call it.
My fav are watching the reactions in chem, even though organic labs took forever but I still enjoyed the refluxing, crystallization,etc in the labs.:redbeathe:redbeathe:redbeathe
My yucks,
Physics labs made time go by fast and related it to everyday life but it was mostly calculations to me.
Micro labs were boring for me, incubating, staining, slides = blah.
I personally love labs because I can apply the textbook to something in real life.
Ditto! When I did the general A&P classes w/labs from a systems approach versus the very specific A&P classes (no labs) for my direct-entry midwifery school it blew my mind away. Same for micro. I could tell my clients exactly what something on the inside of their body looked and felt like (thanks to cadaver lab) and how to collect and grow a culture off something taken from their bodies. I would do them again. If I had to :chuckle
The way you explained labs sounds alot like ours, but to be honest with you I got more out of labs than I did lecture. Dissecting all those pigs and using the microscope was interesting and I learned a lot. I think that one reason those instructors try to do the experiments is to help you understand the concept behind it. We did more of the anatomical learning in labs and saved the physiology learning for lecture. :)
txpatches
45 Posts
I absolutely loved my labs! I have taken Intro to A&P, A&P I, A&P II, and Micro with labs. Our lab class was always small. I would say no more than 20 people and we never had a problem with space or materials. My lab helped me sooo much in my class and my grades!!!