PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO STUDY LEARNING IN THE TERTIARY LEVEL CHEMISTRY LABORATORY

Despite the widespread notion amongst chemistry educators that the laboratory is essential to learn chemistry, it is often a neglected area of teaching and, arguably, of educational research. Research has typically focused on secondary education, single institutions, and isolated interventions that are mostly assessed quantitatively. It has also honed in on compartmentalised features instead of searching understanding of broader aspects of learning through experimentation. This paper contends there is a gap in subject specific, tertiary level research that is comprehensive and learning-centred instead of fragmented and instruction-based. A shift in focus requires consideration of methodological approaches that can effectively tackle the challenges of researching complex learning environments. This paper reckons qualitative approaches, specifically phenomenology, are better suited for this purpose. To illustrate this potential, it summarises an exemplar phenomenological study that investigated students’ experience of change in instructional style from an expository (traditional) laboratory program to one that was cooperative and project-based (reformed). The study suggests the experience was characterised by a transition from a learning environment that promoted mindless behaviour to one in which students were mindfully engaged in their learning. Thus, this work puts forth the use of Mindfulness Theory to investigate and support design of laboratory experiences.