A REAPPRAISAL OF THE STATUS OF
Introductory Biology Laboratory Education in U.S. Colleges & Universities
M A R S H A L L D. S U N D B E R G
I
n 1993 two of us published a survey of introductory biology laboratory instruction in colleges and universities of the U.S. in order to document the status of laboratory instruction, and in particular, the use of inquiry based instruction (Sundberg & Armstrong, 1993). Now, following a decade of biological education reform including such pedagogic techniques as case MARSHALL D. SUNDBERG is Professor of Biology, Emporia State University, Emporia, KS 66801; e-mail
[email protected]. JOSEPH E. ARMSTRONG is Professor of Botany, Illinois State University, Normal, IL 61790; e-mail:
[email protected]. E. WILLIAM WISCHUSEN is Associate Professor of Biology, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803; e-mail:
[email protected].
J O S E P H E. A R M S T R O N G
E. W I L L I A M W I S C H U S E N
studies (Herreid, C.F.), cooperative learning (Lord, T., 1998), learning cycle (Lawson, A.E., 2000), and a variety of other student-active approaches (McNeal & D’Avanze, 1997), we felt it was timely to reassess that status of laboratory instruction to document changes that may have occurred and current trends. Our questionnaire was modified slightly from the original to include several questions on the use of computers, the Internet, and multimedia materials in the laboratory. It was sent to 58 research universities, 50 comprehensive state universities, and 50 liberal arts colleges to provide broad national coverage. This sample included each of the 70 schools (predominantly research universities) that responded to our 1993 INTRODUCTORY BIOLOGY LABORATORY EDUCATION
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survey. The following is based on a total of 65 responses: 34 from research universities, 15 from comprehensive colleges, and 16 from liberal arts colleges. Twentythree of the 70 institutions responding in 1993 provided a direct comparison with the previous survey. This cohort of respondents will be referred to as “follow-up” throughout the remainder of the paper. A copy of the survey and a complete table of responses may be found on-line at http://academic.emporia.edu/ sundberm/biolabs.htm.
Course Organization
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Increasing enrollment in laboratory courses during the past decade is indicated by the increase in the
Percent
Majors/Non-majors 0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 1
2 Research
3 Laboratory Types Comprehensive
4 Liberal Arts
Figure 1. Percentage of schools offering: no laboratory (1); majors only laboratories (2); separate majors and non-majors laboratories (3); and combined majors and non-majors laboratories (4).
Duration of Laboratory Courses
Percent
While we frequently hear stories about laboratory courses being cut at other institutions, usually for budgetary reasons, there is remarkably little evidence of change in course organization based on the survey results. Two schools in each category offered a laboratory in their majors course only, but all schools reported offering some laboratory instruction. About 40% of the schools still combine majors and nonmajors in their laboratory courses. This is virtually unchanged from the percentage observed a decade ago—both in terms of the overall response and in responses from the 23 follow-up schools. Not surprisingly, liberal arts colleges are more likely to offer a single combined course (64%), while research and comprehensive universities are more likely to have separate courses (Figure 1). It is interesting to speculate on whether this difference is economically or philosophically driven. More than half of all schools
offer a two-semester sequence; at comprehensive universities this increases to two-thirds (Figure 2). Laboratory courses continue to have large enrollments. As in 1993, more than half of the respondents reported course enrollments of more than 500 students: Even at comprehensive universities, 41% of the courses are this large. Predictably, liberal arts colleges have smaller enrollment; 50% of these schools report course enrollments in the range of 100-250 students.
0.7 0.6 0.5 0.4 0.3 0.2 0.1 0 1
2
3 Quarters/Semesters
Research
Comprehensive
4
5
Liberal Arts
Figure 2. Duration of laboratory courses: single quarter (1); two quarters (2); three quarters (3); single semester (4); two semesters (5).
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number of laboratory sections offered each term. Since 1993 the number of schools offering more than 30 sections of a course has increased by 10% or more. The overall gain was from 34% to 45%, an increase confirmed by the follow-up schools that increased from 34% to 44%. Among research universities, a slight decrease in the cohort of schools offering 10-20 lab sections was responsible for the gain in larger sections. This suggests that enrollment increases have been met by increasing room use efficiency and by increasing class size. There is a slight decrease in the number of rooms assigned to laboratory instruction, particularly in the follow-up cohort where the number of programs with four or more available laboratories fell from 23% to 12 %, so the increased number of sections must be due to extended scheduling of existing rooms. At the same time there were large jumps in class size. In 1993, 55% of the classes had a student/faculty ratio in the range of 10-20/1 and 41% ranged up to 30/1. Today the 21-30/1 range is found at 70% of the research universities, 71% of the comprehensive universities, and 43% of liberal arts colleges. Three percent of the research universities and 12% of the comprehensive universities have student faculty ratios greater than 30/1, whereas no schools reported ratios this high in our previous survey.
of these same category schools report two instructors per laboratory. Most schools (79% of research universities, 94% of comprehensive colleges, and 71% of liberal arts colleges) have a single instructor in the classroom. We note with interest that liberal arts colleges tend to have the smallest classes and at the same time have more instructors in the laboratory, primarily due to the use of undergraduate assistants, a strategy reported by 14% of these colleges (Figure 3). Research universities make even heavier use of undergraduate assistants (33%) to provide additional help in the laboratories. Only 6% of comprehensive universities reported using undergraduate assistants. Graduate TAs provide the bulk of laboratory instruction at comprehensive (71%) and research (91%) universities. Only 24% of the largest institutions use tenure-track faculty to teach in the introductory laboratories; while 71% of the comprehensive universities do so. Surprisingly, only 71% of the liberal arts colleges reported using faculty to teach in laboratories. However, half of these schools employ career instructors to teach laboratory sections.
Percent
The heavy use of student instructors, either graduate or undergraduate, suggests that TA training should be important. The most notable change in this regard during the last decade is the increase in number of While more sections are being offered and the schools offering independent training sessions of more enrollment per section is increasing, fewer classrooms than three days, in addition to regular weekly pre-lab have multiple instructors assigned to them. Only 9% meetings. Only 4% of the respondents in 1993 indiof research universities and 7% of liberal arts colleges cated they offered such training; now 15% of research have more than two instructors (including undergraduniversities and 6% of comprehensive colleges report uate assistants) in the laboratory. Twenty-one percent that they provide extended training. While 14% of the originally surveyed schools offered a formal, for-credit course in laboratory instruction Laboratory Instructors in 1993, this number 1 has declined to 6% and 12% in research and 0.8 comprehensive univer0.6 sities respectively. 0.4
0.2 0 1
2
3
4
Instructor Type Research
Comprehensive
Liberal Arts
Figure 3. Laboratory instructors: tenure-track faculty (1); career instructors (2); graduate teaching assistants (3); undergraduate assistants (4).
Content & Materials The most significant changes in biology laboratory instruction during the past decade relate to the way laboratory instruction in introductory biology is taught. A major trend
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Percent
during this time has been a move to studentType of Laboratory Experience active exercises. In fact, 1 one of the motives of our original survey was 0.8 to gauge interest in 0.6 workshops on implementing inquiry and 0.4 investigation in the 0.2 classroom. A faculty 0 workshop that grew out 2 3 4 5 1 of that process (LABSHOP, NSF #USE Experience Type 9156094) was one of Research Comprehensive Liberal Arts the first of many sponsored by NSF and other organizations promotFigure 4. ing process-oriented Type of laboratory experience: traditional field and/or wet lab (1); computer simulations (2); inquiryinstruction in the biolobased investigations (3); open investigation (4); online investigation (5). gy laboratory. One of the fruits of these efforts is evident in the Our earlier study did not examine the impact of response to our question about sources of materials for computers in the laboratory classroom because they laboratory instruction. A decade ago fewer than 20% of were rarely available. Today computers are a significant the respondents indicated that they adapted materials resource for laboratory instruction at most institutions. from workshops or conferences. Today about 40% at Only at liberal arts colleges are a significant number of each type of institution use such materials, and among laboratory courses taught with no computers in the the follow-up respondents this rises to 48%. While 7 to classroom (36%). Students in more than half of all 24% of the responding schools indicate that they use courses have access to networked computers, 60%, commercially available lab materials, essentially 65%, and 57% at research, comprehensive, and liberal unmodified, which is a proportion similar to the 19% arts schools respectively. Nearly 3/4 of these have on our previous survey, all but one school in each catInternet access (research is lower at only 61%) and 2/3 egory report using internally developed manuals. have multimedia capability (except liberal arts is lower Again, this is not dramatically different from the 89% a at 43%). The data suggest that there are “have” and decade ago. “have not” institutions, particularly among liberal arts colleges. If computers are available at all, there are usuThe content of today’s manuals may reflect the ally multiple networked machines with Internet and trend toward student-active inquiry and process-based multimedia capabilities. science instruction. Evidence for the previous statement is in the type of laboratory investigations reported. In 1993 only 10% of the responding schools reported an investigation-based laboratory curriculum. Today most schools report using inquiry: 79% of research universities, 88% of comprehensive universities, and 71% of liberal arts colleges. Particularly noteworthy is that half of the liberal arts colleges (50%) report using open investigations in their introductory courses. For students this represents an exposure to authentic research early in their careers and may help to explain the proportionally high number of graduates from liberal arts colleges who eventually earn a doctorate in science, mathematics and engineering (we recognize the selectivity bias in the student populations that would also be a factor in determining these proportions).
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Computers are not the only new resource that has become available for laboratory instruction during the past decade. Access to virtually every other resource for laboratory instruction increased compared to the data from 1993. The smallest gain overall, based on the follow-up schools, was in the availability of an animal room (42% to 48%) to support laboratory instruction. There was a gain of more than 20% in the availability of resources for student projects, as opposed to maintaining materials for classroom use or all-class experiments (Figure 5). This is exactly what we would expect with an increase in inquiry and investigative activities, especially open investigations and independent projects. Perhaps the most surprising change, given the perception of cutbacks in laboratory instruction, is the
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Percent
direction of change in spending on laboratory Non-Computing Instructional Resources courses. As before, 1.2 more than half of the responding institutions 1 spend more than $10 0.8 per student to support 0.6 the laboratory. Follow0.4 up schools increased 0.2 from 52% to 56% 0 charging more than a $10 lab fee, but this was 2 3 4 5 6 7 1 a considerably smaller Resource increase than reported Research Comprehensive Liberal Arts 1993 Survey overall. Among liberal arts colleges, 71% spend more than $10 Figure 5. while the corresponNon-Computing laboratory instructional resources: greenhouse space for plant maintenance (1); greending percentages for house space for student projects (2); growth chamber for maintenance (3); growth chamber for stucomprehensive and dent projects (4); animal room for maintenance (5); animal room for student projects (6); natural area research universities are for class or field work (7). 71% and 64% respectively. To help defray these costs, more but as a result at least indirect evidence suggests that the schools are now charging a lab fee and the lab fees are quality of the laboratory experience is improving as higher than in the past. A decade ago, fewer than half inquiry and student-active investigation account for a of the responding institutions charged any laboratory greater share of laboratory activities. Finally, we hope fee while today more than half do. The notable excepthat these results will be useful in formulating strong tion is liberal arts colleges where more than 3/4 of the arguments against cutting back on laboratory instrucresponding institutions still charge no lab fee. On the tion at any institution where this is proposed. other hand, the 21% that do have a fee charge $10 or more. More than 3/4 of the comprehensive and We thank the many respondents for taking the research universities charge a fee of more than $5 and time to respond to our survey. Although such surveys more than half charge more than $10. Rather than can be onerous, without them we have no means of being a drain on university resources, it appears that at assessing trends and changes in biological instruction. least at some institutions, laboratories have become a “cash cow.” One respondent from a major public References research institution notes, “A $70 lab fee is assessed ($55.00) too much). A $15 per student fee would be Herreid, C.F. Co-Director, National Center for Case Study sufficient but the Dean’s office collects the entire Teaching in Science. Available online at: http://ublib. amount and keeps the excess.” buffalo.edu/libaries/projects/cases/case.html. In summary, contrary to the frequent perception that laboratories are being cut from the introductory biology curriculum as a cost saving measure, the responses to this survey suggest that laboratory instruction is alive and perhaps growing more vigorous, although in larger-size classes. The old “cookbook” approach is being replaced by inquiry and studentactive investigations. While access to the Web and multimedia resources is becoming increasingly important, access to living materials in greenhouses, growth chambers, animal rooms, and natural areas remain paramount, even more so than in the past. Students are bearing a larger burden for the costs of these opportunities,
Lawson, A.E. (2000). A learning cycle approach to introducing osmosis. The American Biology Teacher, 58(1), 38-42. Lord, T. (1998). Cooperative learning that really works in biology teaching using constructivist-based activities to challenge student teams. The American Biology Teacher, 60(8), 580-588. McNeal, A.P. & D’Avanze, C. (Eds.) (1997). Student-Active Science: Models of Innovation in College Science Teaching. Orlando, FL: Harcourt Brace College Publishers. Sundberg, M.D. & Armstrong, J.E. (1993). The status of laboratory instruction for introductory biology in U.S. universities. The American Biology Teacher, 55(3), 144-146.
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