Opinions

As June approaches, students are relieved of many things, one of which is the completion of science labs. From freshman to junior year, each student is required to satisfactorily complete 20 labs each year in order to take the Regents for the science course. While labs are a fun and hands-on way to apply classroom learning, this is not always the case in Stuyvesant.

Many find that the labs don’t always coincide with the teacher’s lesson plan, a problem that is detrimental to students’ learning and the application of new information. Labs should provide an environment where students are able to master scientific concepts that are not possible without the use of hands-on tools and techniques. Without the proper integration of labs and the curriculum, students do not know how to apply what they’ve learned in the classroom.

Labs have unfortunately turned into an ineffective method of learning because of the sequence they are organized in. Some labs are completed before the corresponding lesson is taught. In other cases, teachers have either not taught the lesson in depth, or students do not read lab printouts containing background information on lab procedures. But sometimes, printouts are not enough. Inconsistencies between what is taught and what is conducted in the lab leave students confused and unable to do their lab correctly.

The science departments need to reevaluate the current organization of labs and their connection with what is taught in class. On a regular basis, cohesive topic outlines are given to science teachers by their respective head of department, but in order to utilize them effectively, labs should then be scheduled a few days after the teacher teaches each specific topic in the outline. Although it would be more work for students, there could be pre-labs in which the teacher asks questions that introduce students to the lab content. Since teachers do not work together to create each lab, all science teachers should review the content of the labs before each school year starts and decide on lab dates before they are scheduled.

In all sciences, the fundamental concept is order. A larva must form a pupa before becoming a butterfly. A chemical reaction must be activated before a product can be formed. A force must act on an object before it can accelerate. Likewise, a class must be taught before a lab can be conducted.