What is an Open-ended Lab?

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.

Different lab classes may vary in their degrees of open-endedness. However, there are three general areas that can be made open-ended:

Concept

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 fulfil 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.

Design

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.

Analysis and reporting

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 instil 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 finalising their report. The teacher may make suggestions and guide the students who need direction.

Debriefing

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 emphasise the essential learning points.

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Discuss Here: What are some projects that you can give students in an open-ended lab?