Lectures, Labs, and Learning
By Ruby, a Peer Tutor
Throughout most of high school, my science classes tended to be very theoretical. It wasn’t until community college that I had my first real lab class. In this biology lab, we dissected animals we talked about in lecture and identified different bacteria under the microscope. This was my first taste of experiential learning as an integral part of a course rather than an occasional add-on. Now that I’ve been in college for a few years and have taken quite a few classes that have both a lecture and lab component, I’ve gotten the chance to see how they’re different, how to succeed in both types, and how they complement each other.
Science lecture classes are primarily theoretical and typically very exam-focused. Because these classes are largely test-based, I like to use strategies like active recall and working out practice problems to be the most helpful. My biology classes usually stress being able to explain a certain phenomenon, like how cells can differentially express genes. This kind of learning is important for setting the stage for deep understanding, but it doesn’t always completely click for me until I get more hands-on experience.
The lab component of a class can provide this experience– there is a greater emphasis on the ability to do a certain technical task (such as using a micropipette or setting up a reaction) in addition to understanding the theoretical reasoning behind doing that task. Not only does the tactical “hands-on” approach to labs make concepts stick better, but labs also force me to find explanations for experimental results I’m getting in real life, rather than picking a choice from A-D on an answer sheet.
Things also go wrong sometimes in lab! During one experiment in chem lab, the pH readings I was getting from my buffer solution were totally off what they should have been. Working together with my lab partner or TA to figure out why the data I’m getting doesn’t make any sense has really helped me grow as a student and scientist.
The majority of the grade in a lab usually comes from writing assignments incorporating conceptual knowledge (usually from the lab manual and the lecture), analysis of results from the experiment completed, and reflection on the procedure done to obtain the results. This takes a deeper knowledge of the material, and I’ve found that connecting results and theoretical knowledge sometimes requires spending more time thinking and sitting on ideas than in other classes. If I’m stuck, I often go back to the lab manual, the lecture textbook, or even search things online.
Theoretical and experiential learning experiences complement each other, making the learning experience deeper and longer-lasting. In analytical chemistry, the only way I remembered the difference between normal and reverse-phase liquid chromatography is because we did an experiment using reverse-phase where I (even now!) clearly remember all the steps, including the polarity of all the species we used. As a more meaningful example, the combination of lecture and lab science classes prepared me for working in a research lab, where I am constantly combining theory with real-life experimental results.
Many classes that do not contain a formal lab component still incorporate experiential learning, including many non-science classes. After all, experiential learning is really just learning by doing. Some examples in the humanities may include analyzing primary sources or field work. Additionally, not all fields use the kinds of hands-on experiences that I’ve been talking about here and just deal with the theoretical. For these classes, the experiential learning part of the class may be thinking and writing about class concepts in new ways and coming to your own original conclusions.
Traditional learning (like in a lecture) and learning by doing are both skills that are important not just in the classroom, but in jobs as well. Knowing how learning situations differ between classes and tailoring your learning strategies for different learning situations is helpful for college and whatever comes after!