Current approaches in the tertiary biology laboratory

John Wallace
Curtin University of Technology

This is a report of a case study of a first year introductory biology class at a regional university. The class was taught by five staff and observed for one semester. The observations were supplemented by interviews of staff and students. Grounded theory was used to analyse the data, and the findings support observations which have previously been made of secondary students and of university students in other disciplines. A number of barriers to communication were identified, and the intentions and expectations of instructors and students were often poorly matched. A single most important finding from the study is that different approaches are needed to cater for the varying learning needs of individual students.