My search for labs has intensified, because while lecturing on molarity and solution stoichiometry, I found myself saying things like, “now, if we were in a lab, and you were going to make this by mixing these two things, you would do this, because…..” and so on. How awful is that. So hard to follow, and so simple fix, if one could just find/design a decent lab.
I will have to think about my criteria for a good lab. At the moment I have a “I know it when I see it” thing.
Apparently the state standards say that 25% of time in a science class should be spent on lab work. That doesn’t even happen in the AP course here. Of course, labs for labs sake is no better than math or homework for their own sake, and there are some awful activities out there. But quality lab work should be a priority.
I’m stating what may seem obvious because my mentor advised me not to make it a priority. To be fair, he was thinking of labs-for-labs sake, and he is worried about me getting to overwrought with this whole teaching/grad school/ life thing. Which is kind. But I have to learn somehow. More to the point, my students have to learn
