Impact of lab experiences on student knowledge and confidence

Eileen Haase; Natsuki Furukawa; Brooke Hardesty; Akash Patil; Amanda Ruci

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Conference: 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition
Location: Minneapolis, MN
Publication Date: August 23, 2022
Start Date: June 26, 2022
End Date: June 29, 2022
Conference Session: Biomedical Engineering Division: Developing Lab and Research Skills for BioE/BME Students
Page Count: 53
DOI: 10.18260/1-2--40556
Permanent URL: https://peer.asee.org/40556
Download Count: 548

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Paper Authors

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Eileen Haase The Johns Hopkins University

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Eileen Haase is an Associate Teaching Professor and Associate Director of Undergraduate Studies in Biomedical Engineering at Johns Hopkins University. She is also chair of the JHU Applied Biomedical Engineering Master's Program.

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Natsuki Furukawa The Johns Hopkins University

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I'm a PhD student at Johns Hopkins University majoring in Biomedical Engineering. I obtained my Bachelor's degree (2017) and Masters degree (2019) in pharmaceutical sciences at The University of Tokyo before coming to the US.
I had the opportunity to be involved in a required sophomore course, "Biochemistry and Molecular Engineering" as a head TA in 2020 and 2021.

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Abstract

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the sophomore class of 2021 spent very little time on campus as freshmen and missed the benefits and advantages of in-person learning. Three labs were added to a required sophomore biomedical engineering (BME) course, Biochemistry and Molecular Engineering. The objectives of these labs were three-fold: (i) reinforce the content presented in the online lecture, (ii) provide students with hands-on laboratory skills, and (iii) offer students engaged in an online course in-person experiences and the corresponding academic and social benefits. The objective of this course is to develop critical thinking, teamwork and collaborative skills, as well as the ability to use physical laboratory equipment to obtain and analyze data. We eliminated some of the homework problems to account for the time spent in preparation for lab, the lab sessions, and writing the post-lab reports. The labs accounted for 10% of the total grade and included a prelab quiz, a post-lab report, and one or two exam questions for each lab. The three labs were: 1. Introduction to Pipetting 2. DNA Extraction, PCR, and Gel Electrophoresis 3. Bacterial Transformation with a Plasmid After completing the labs, a student survey indicated that over 80% of students agreed or strongly agreed that they felt confident using all these techniques. Comparing confidence levels, 63% of the students were somewhat familiar with pipetting prior to Lab 1 which increased to over 90% post-lab. After Lab 2 (DNA extraction, PCR, and gel electrophoresis), confidence levels more than doubled, from 40% in pre-lab survey results to 86% afterwards. Student confidence in the final lab, which involved using a plasmid for genetic transfection of bacteria, went from 33% pre-lab to 81% post-lab. While the prelab census indicated that a significant percentage of the students had some prior lab proficiency in high school, a quarter of the students lacked experience in pipetting and a majority of the students were unfamiliar with PCR/gel electrophoresis and plasmids. As one student noted, “The labs were a good way to build basic lab skills and exposure for students who were previously unable to work in a college lab”. By the end of the course, 87% agreed or strongly agreed that “Gaining hands-on lab skills is an important part of this course. I believe it should be continued, possibly with more labs, in future years.” In addition to gaining hands-on laboratory experience, students enjoyed working with their classmates in-person and benefited from “learning by doing”. Student comments strongly indicated that the labs reinforced the lecture content. The labs “helped me retain the information better than simply reading about it.” The combination of replacing homework with labs, and reducing the total amount of time per week students spent on the course, did not result in significant differences in the quiz scores from pre-pandemic years. Given the success of this year’s lab experiences, we plan to update the labs and include additional topics for future course offerings.

Citation
Format

Haase, E., & Furukawa, N., & Hardesty, B., & Patil, A., & Ruci, A. (2022, August), Impact of lab experiences on student knowledge and confidence Paper presented at 2022 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Minneapolis, MN. 10.18260/1-2--40556

TY  - CPAPER
AB  - Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the sophomore class of 2021 spent very little time on campus as freshmen and missed the benefits and advantages of in-person learning. Three labs were added to a required sophomore biomedical engineering (BME) course, Biochemistry and Molecular Engineering. The objectives of these labs were three-fold: (i) reinforce the content presented in the online lecture, (ii) provide students with hands-on laboratory skills, and (iii) offer students engaged in an online course in-person experiences and the corresponding academic and social benefits. 
The objective of this course is to develop critical thinking, teamwork and collaborative skills, as well as the ability to use physical laboratory equipment to obtain and analyze data. We eliminated some of the homework problems to account for the time spent in preparation for lab, the lab sessions, and writing the post-lab reports. The labs accounted for 10% of the total grade and included a prelab quiz, a post-lab report, and one or two exam questions for each lab. 
The three labs were:
1.	Introduction to Pipetting 
2.	DNA Extraction, PCR, and Gel Electrophoresis 
3.	Bacterial Transformation with a Plasmid 
After completing the labs, a student survey indicated that over 80% of students agreed or strongly agreed that they felt confident using all these techniques. Comparing confidence levels, 63% of the students were somewhat familiar with pipetting prior to Lab 1 which increased to over 90% post-lab. After Lab 2 (DNA extraction, PCR, and gel electrophoresis), confidence levels more than doubled, from 40% in pre-lab survey results to 86% afterwards. Student confidence in the final lab, which involved using a plasmid for genetic transfection of bacteria, went from 33% pre-lab to 81% post-lab. 
While the prelab census indicated that a significant percentage of the students had some prior lab proficiency in high school, a quarter of the students lacked experience in pipetting and a majority of the students were unfamiliar with PCR/gel electrophoresis and plasmids. As one student noted, “The labs were a good way to build basic lab skills and exposure for students who were previously unable to work in a college lab”. By the end of the course, 87% agreed or strongly agreed that “Gaining hands-on lab skills is an important part of this course. I believe it should be continued, possibly with more labs, in future years.” 
In addition to gaining hands-on laboratory experience, students enjoyed working with their classmates in-person and benefited from “learning by doing”.  Student comments strongly indicated that the labs reinforced the lecture content. The labs “helped me retain the information better than simply reading about it.” The combination of replacing homework with labs, and reducing the total amount of time per week students spent on the course, did not result in significant differences in the quiz scores from pre-pandemic years. Given the success of this year’s lab experiences, we plan to update the labs and include additional topics for future course offerings. 

AU  - Eileen Haase
AU  - Natsuki Furukawa
AU  - Brooke Hardesty
AU  - Akash Patil
AU  - Amanda Ruci
CY  - Minneapolis, MN
DA  - 2022/08/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - Impact of lab experiences on student knowledge and confidence
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/40556
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--40556
ER  -