No More "Cookbook" Labs

Martha Powell, chair of biological sciences at the University of Alabama, introduced inquiry-based learning to generate an enthusiasm for problem solving amoung her student teams.
Photo: Alice Wilson

At the University of Alabama (UA), educators aimed to expand students' learning experiences in the discovery-based course, "Introduction to Inquiry." Martha Powell, who became chair of UA's department of biological sciences in 1997, created the course, which was first offered in 1998. Powell wanted students to experience something other than the standard "cookbook" science labs. That kind of lab, she believes, "teaches certain skills, but doesn't teach the big inquiry approach to science. And it's not exciting. It really doesn't portray how we do science, because as scientists we work in teams."

Powell doesn't want students to ask, "Did I get the right answer?," but rather to say, "This is the answer I got," and then critically appraise that answer.

Students work in small teams on real-world problems. For example, sophomore Alice Boone's team studied soil from an oil-contaminated site near the university to determine if the contamination had decreased bacterial diversity. The students gathered soil from the site, extracted DNA and examined it for bacterial diversity. Then they compared those samples with samples from noncontaminated soil.

"We found that diversity actually was increased in the oil-contaminated samples," says Boone. "That was a surprise."

After each team gathers data, members analyze their results and present their findings to the rest of the class. If teams come up with contradictory findings, lively discussion ensues—just the kind of active collaboration and learning Powell wants the class to engender.

"We had to explain [our findings] to the class as if we were talking to people who knew nothing," says Boone. Each student also had to write up the results in a standard scientific research paper.

For Alice Boone, an unexpected bonus was the close relationships she developed with her "Introduction to Inquiry" professors. "The teachers were more real to us," she says. "It wasn't as if they were people we just couldn't talk to. It seemed like they cared more about us personally and were more willing to guide us along and tell us things we actually need to know out in the world."

This spring, UA is offering a second discovery-based course, "Integrated Genetics," and more may follow. Powell and her colleagues are also developing a booklet on discovery-based learning to help teachers at other institutions develop similar courses.

Boone, who intends to go on to earn a doctorate in microbiology, enthusiastically recommends "Introduction to Inquiry" to her friends. For her, the course turned out to be "a totally different learning experience," one that she believes will make her a better scientist.

"I ask more questions now," she says. "I don't just remember what I learned in class and then spit it back out. I actually, truly understand what is going on."

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