LabSkills - a Dynamic Laboratory Manual for Students, Schools and Universities
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What is LabSkills?
A-Level Chemistry LabSkills is an interactive, web-based laboratory manual, which has been developed by Bristol ChemLabS staff in association with Learning Science Ltd to improve the practical chemistry skills of Post 16 chemistry students in schools and colleges. It has evolved from the Bristol ChemLabS Dynamic Laboratory Manual (DLM), which forms the centrepiece of the newly refurbished Undergraduate Teaching Laboratories in the school of Chemistry at the University of Bristol. We believe that LabSkills will transform teaching and student learning in a school laboratory environment in the same way that the ChemLabS DLM has done for undergraduates at Bristol. Many of the key features of LabSkills are outlined below.
The problem with the traditional laboratory experience
Students typically arrive at the laboratory to carry out an experiment without a very clear idea of the practical techniques they will be using, the skills they will need, or the chemistry which underlies the practical. It is usually only after the laboratory, during a write up, that students will generally start to work out what it was they had been doing all day. This is obviously an unsatisfactory experience and students will clearly get much more from their laboratory work if they know what they are doing beforehand. Pre-laboratory preparation is the key to achieving this and the LabSkills philosophy has therefore been to shift the balance of work outside the laboratory to before rather than after the practical class so that students are much better informed and more confident.
Pre-laboratory work
As part of their pre-laboratory work, students are required to work through some background information about the experiment including sets of multiple choice and multiple completion tests which also provide instant feedback on any wrong answers. Additional information they need for a particular experiment is also contained within the LabSkills DLM in a variety of rich formats which include:
Flash based simulations/virtual instruments
An unfamiliar piece of equipment is represented in a diagrammatic form which has a number of fully interactive features. The correct use of the equipment can then be learned by following a set of instructions and although it is likely that many students will merely play around with it initially, even this will educate them about the function of the apparatus. Mistakes, which might be quite serious or costly with the real equipment, can be made with no ill-effects; students just start again and have another go.
Video
Some techniques are best illustrated by video and students find this a very useful way to get a clear idea of what they will need to do in the laboratory. Students therefore see and learn what a particular piece of equipment is supposed to do, have more confidence when it comes to using the real thing, and a much better idea of the chemistry that is being explored in the experiment.
Other sections
In addition to the simulations and video, the LabSkills software resource contains experimental safety information, tutorials on the use of significant figures, equipment and chemical glossaries, short revision tests and much more.
Discover LabSkills
Discover LabSkills is part of the Royal Society of Chemistry/Pfizer initiative called Discover Chemistry. Discover LabSkills, now in its second year, has made the LabSkills A-Level DLM freely available to all UK PGCE students and their tutors for use during their year of study. Full details can be found on the LabSkills and RSC websites.
For the latest information about Discover LabSkills click here
Foundation LabSkills
A networked version of the LabSkills DLM is also available to support foundation chemistry degree students in further or higher education. Further details can be found at http://www.labskills.co.uk/university.php
Further information
The Bristol ChemLabS undergraduate DLM (including a demonstration version)
For articles about the A-Level Chemistry DLM, see:
- Chemistry in Action, Spring 2010, 90. 'How to Get the Most Out of Chemistry Practical Work' by T G Harrison and W J Heslop.
- Acta Didactica Napocensia (journal of the Didactics of Exact Sciences Chair of the Babes-Bolyai University) Volume 2, Number 1, 2009, Transferring Best Practice From Undergraduate Practical Teaching To Secondary Schools: The Dynamic Laboratory Manual by T G Harrison, D E Shallcross, W J Heslop, J R Eastman & A J Baldwin.
- Chemistry in Action (magazine for Irish teachers) #86 Winter 2008 - 'A Chemistry Dynamic Laboratory Manual for Schools'
