Learning in the laboratory: an interactional, factual and conceptual experience.

Résumé 0

When the teacher acts in a particular way, how does the student probably experience his act? What is the nature of these experiences and how teachers may influence them? Our starting point was a three-dimensional model (subject, object, project) defining three domains of experience: the interactional, perceptual domain, the conceptual, mental domain and the factual, concrete domain. We adapted this theoretical framework to the context of learning in the laboratory. It is assumed that all three domains are present in any learning experience but that some laboratory sessions may be dominated by one or the other domain. We present the consequences of this model for the design of laboratory sessions. Three types of laboratory situations are presented that lead to different natures of student experience and that are possibly connected to different learning outcomes. Using the framework, we derive the problems involved in using only one type of laboratory. Finally, we argue that if several types of laboratory calling on different domains of human experience are proposed, laboratory work becomes a privileged activity in which these domains can be used for learning purposes.