Effects of Reducing Scaffolding in an Undergraduate Electronics Lab

TL;DR

This study investigates whether reducing scaffolding in an electronics lab affects students' ability to analyze unfamiliar circuits, finding no significant difference between students with explicit or incomplete procedures.

Contribution

It provides empirical evidence that removing step-by-step instructions does not impair students' circuit analysis skills in undergraduate electronics labs.

Findings

No significant difference in post-lab quiz scores between groups

Reduced scaffolding did not hinder students' ability to determine circuit functions

Suggests scaffolding may not be critical for developing certain analytical skills

Abstract

Design and scientific investigation are recognized as key components of undergraduate physics laboratory curricula. In light of this, many successful lab programs have been developed to train students to develop these abilities, and students in these programs have been shown to exhibit a higher transfer rate of scientific abilities to new situations. In this paper, I use data from an electronics class for physics majors to investigate how giving students the opportunity to design circuits --- by removing steps from traditional cookbook lab guides --- affects the students' ability to determine the function of circuits they haven't seen before. I compared post-lab quiz results from students who were given explicit procedures to those of students who were given incomplete procedures, and I found no statistically significant difference in the results of the two groups. I explore possible explanations for the null effect and recommend future research directions.