Closing the Gap: Laboratory Experiences, and Not Just Textbooks, Are the Best Way to Provide Equal Learning Opportunities for All

Aristotle assumed that men have more teeth than women (Aristotle, Peck [translator] 1965). Nowadays, experimental evidence is so ingrained in our modern world view that we can hardly understand why he didn't count someone's teeth--gathering evidence--before reaching that conclusion. But Aristotle believed that our senses could fool us and, accordingly, valued logic over observation. Two thousand years later, we repeat Aristotle's error when we ask students to recall what happens when a bus stops suddenly, when they pour milk in hot chocolate, or when they notice a bee traveling from flower to flower. We mistakenly assume that all students have had these experiences, have made careful observations, and can substitute their memories and logic for experimental evidence. In fact, some students bring to school a much richer set of experiences than other students, giving them an advantage in understanding and contributing to class discussion. Equity demands that all students have an opportunity to master the material and participate in classroom discussions. Laboratory investigations not only let our diverse student population interact with the world and gain relevant experiences, they also provide common, shared experiences so that all students can contribute in the classroom and increase their chance of success in science. Including labs in the science classroom is an equity issue. Arguments for including laboratory experiences in the science classroom have always rested on their support of academic goals, including mastery of subject matter, developing scientific reasoning, understanding the complexity and ambiguity of empirical work, developing practical skills, understanding the nature of science, raising interest in science and science learning, and developing teamwork abilities (NRC 2005; NSTA 2007). In various instructional models (Karplus and Thier 1967, Lawson 1995, Bybee 1997, Eisenkraft 2003), the laboratory experience precedes the introduction of the concept. Omitting laboratory experiences compromises all of these models, diminishes the quality of instruction, and proportionally harms disadvantaged students, resulting in inequity. Despite the value of laboratory experiences, teachers often fail to persuade their school principal to fund equipment and supplies. Equity demands that all students have lab instruction, yet certain populations never get it. Making the equity argument that labs help level the playing field for disadvantaged students may assist teachers in getting money to improve their science program. Doing science through lab work Laboratory work is a valuable tool for mastering science. The child finds the world a "blooming, buzzing confusion" (James 1890). Through interactions with the material world, the child learns that some objects are heavy, others are sharp, and still others are hot. A child observing a pebble uses sight, hearing, smell, touch, and, to the chagrin of parents, taste to understand "pebble." The discovery process takes place during all waking hours as the child makes sense of the world. This initial sense making is similar to what we strive for in laboratory experiences. As we introduce the multitude of science concepts in our curriculum, we should also provide experiences so students can explore and better understand the world of science. That is the role of the laboratory in the science classroom. A lab trains a student in doing science the way practicing a sport trains an athlete. Consider a baseball training camp competing for young athletes without benefit of a baseball field, bats, balls, or gloves and offering only coaches, videotapes, and books about baseball strategies. Would parents enroll their children in such a camp? The question seems absurd, but this is the situation that schools offering limited laboratory experiences face. It would be ludicrous to compare gains in athletic ability between one set of students that gets to practice baseball with bats and balls all year and another set that only looks at pictures in a book and reads about baseball. …