Scientia in educatione

Thirty-five years ago the first review of research on effectiveness of teaching in the laboratory appeared (Bates, 1978) and concluded that there was no evidence for better conceptual or process skill achievement for students with as compared to without laboratory experience. Other reviews with similar results followed (Hofstein, Lunetta, 1982, 2004; Lunetta et al, 2007; Hodson, 1993; Dillon, 2008) but were  largely ignored until recently. Research has shown that the objectives for laboratory teaching — just as with other teaching methods — are often not achieved and that  many laboratory sessions are ineffective and yet expensive in terms of student and teacher time and facilities. This paper analyzes reasons for disappointing results of laboratory teaching and provides suggestions for making laboratory teaching more effective. Many suggestions are trivial, yet not currently used by most teachers. All along there have also been reports of successful laboratory activities (e.g. Reif, St. John, 1979; Etkina et al, 2010), however, traditional and less successful approaches still predominate.