1. Open Ended Lab (OEL)
Dr. Saeed Badshah,
Associate Professor
Department of Mechanical Engineering,
International Islamic University Islamabad, PAKISTAN
2. Chinese Proverb
2
Tell me and I will forget
Show me and I will remember
Involve me and I will understand
Step back and I will act
5. Depth of Knowledge Required
5
Engineer
Washington
Accord (WA)
Engineering
Technologist
Sydney Accord (SA)
Engineering
Technician
Dublin Accord (DA)
Complex
Engineering
Problems
Broadly Defined
Problems
Well defined
Problems
Can be solved using
limited theoretical
knowledge, but
normally requires
extensive practical
knowledge
Requires knowledge of
principles and applied
procedures or
methodologies
Requires in-depth
knowledge that allows
a fundamentals-based
first principles
analytical approach
7. What is an Open-ended Lab?
7
An open-ended lab is where students are given the freedom to
develop their own experiments, instead of merely following the
already set guidelines from a lab manual or elsewhere.
Making labs open-ended pushes students to think for themselves
and think harder.
The students here have to devise their own strategies and back them
with explanations, theory and logical justification.
This not only encourages students to come up with their
experiments, but requires them to defend themselves and their
experiment, if questioned.
8. Degrees of open-endedness
8
Different lab classes may vary in their degrees of open-endedness.
However, there are three general areas that can be made open-ended:
Concept
Design
Analysis and reporting
Debriefing
Levels of Laboratory Openness
LEVEL Concept Design Analysis & Reporting
O Given Given Given
1 Given Given Open
2 Given Open Open
3 Open Open Open
9. Concept
9
In order to make this stage open-ended, the teacher may give the
students a project with a purpose and not the procedure. The
students would then have to come up with their own experiments to
back the theory or fulfill the purpose.
For example, the teacher may ask the students to test the material
properties of some household products. The students would then
have to decide which products they want to experiment on and what
testing experiment they want to conduct. The teacher here plays a
supportive sort and is available to address any student queries and
aid any student on their project concept, while giving students space
to tap into their creativity.
This helps boost confidence in students, as they can proudly say that
they did the experiment on their own. However, it is essential that
the teacher is always present in the lab with the students, for safety
reasons
10. Design
10
Once the experiment’s concept is in place, whether developed by
the students or teacher, it is time to design the experiment in
accordance with the concept. The teacher may choose to let the
students study the different experiments that the teacher may have
chalked down on a list and then chose one for themselves. The
teacher may, in this case, drop hints and guide the students, without
actually choosing something for them.
This would indirectly encourage the students to learn more about all
the experiments on the list, irrespective of which one they are doing.
In order to choose the experiment that they want to do for their
project, the students would need to know about all the experiments.
11. Analysis and reporting
11
Most lab experiments in the classroom end with the teacher giving
specific information on analysis and reporting, making it easier for
the teacher while reducing the learning for the students. Leaving this
step open-ended would help instill confidence in the students.
The teacher may explain the different report formats to the
students. The students may be asked to write an initial draft of their
report and then discuss their analysis with the teacher, before
finalizing their report. The teacher may make suggestions and guide
the students who need direction.
12. Debriefing
12
It may be useful for teachers to have a debriefing session with the
students after an open-ended experiment.
The teacher may drop pointers for the students and perhaps talk
about the difficulties that the students faced while doing the
experiment.
This may be in the form of a lecture or a discussion and could
emphasize the essential learning points
