Steven Brown (University of Arizona, USA)
One of the major hurdles to running a successful discovery-based guided-inquiry lab course is guiding students to effectively prepare for their laboratory experience. The problem with the traditional approach of having students complete pre-lab assignments prior to class is that there is limited opportunity for guidance. This presentation will discuss the use of a learning management system to make the pre-lab assignment a richer, more useful tool. Students submit the assignment on-line and the TA grades it and provides feedback before the lab begins. As a result the student has a better understanding of the experiment to be performed and the TA has a better understanding of what the students can and cannot do.