Secondary objectives: Different kinds of school labs
Categories: Why do we need them?
From an extensive set of data about school labs, being at the disposal of LernortLabor, secondary objectives were formed additionally to the primary objectives. These secondary objectives can vary, yet they shall promote the primary objectives. With the help of secondary objectives categories can be developed which illustrate the operating mode of school labs (cf. [Haupt et al., 2013, page 325/326]).
There seems to be a large heterogeneity of school labs which lapses when classifying school labs into categories, and subsequently comparing only those school labs within a chosen category (cf. [Haupt et al., page 326]).
The categorisation of school labs,
leads to the internal effect that operators of school labs can easily identify colleagues in the respective category, in order to use synergies if possible, and, under the right circumstances, cooperate. The external effect is that the new transparency enables users from schools on the one side, and prospective supporters from politics, economy, and science on the other, to identify the desired target group under the school labs, and address it purposefully (cf. [Haupt et al., 2013, page 329]).
The six present categories
In the following the six categories, extracted from [Haupt et al., 2013], will be briefly presented. It is possible to allocate a school lab into different categories.
- The classic school lab usually offers half-day or daylong courses for whole classes. It is part of a school curriculum. The school lab provides the necessary amount of workplaces and materials for the participants. Topics and experiments follow the curriculum. Ideally activities and contents in the school lab match the current lessons of the visitors. This can be accomplished when school labs offer appropriate material for integrating the visit into regular school lessons. Also once in a while there are offers for advanced teacher training on this matter. The school lab functions here as a supplement to regular lessons; it provides general promotion.
- Student research centres provide scientifically and technically gifted or interested adolescents the opportunity to work on longer-term projects. It is about voluntary research carried out in the freetime of the students. It is independent from school work, though it serves as a supplement to school as soft skills are conveyed. The projects are most often worked on by single students or in small teams without intentional reference to the school curriculum. Experts only accompany participants in their learning and development process, so that students may participate with their projects in contests. Hence the student research centre serves as an individual encouragement, and to promote excellence.
- Teaching and learning laboratories show many similarities with classic school labs. The main difference is that in a teaching and learning lab student teachers do the mentoring. It constitutes an obligatory or facultative part of the university teacher training. That is why most teaching and learning labs are located at universities, run by didactical departments. The concept offers a lot of opportunities for student teachers. They learn how to develop experiments, and to experiment together with pupils. They also have to reflect their skills, and consolidate their professional knowledge. This way universities get the chance to widen the teaching to a holistic education for student teachers.
- A school lab for scientific communication is most often incorporated in research centres, and therefore offers an insight into current research and scientific work of the lab provider. The motivation of most pupils originates in that very feature. The contents are adapted to the grade level of the pupils. However they are not aimed at the actual school curriculum. In general highlights of local research are presented by means of hands-on experiments. Additionally the research centre provides insights into different careers and thus aims at attracting young people for them. This advertising is not restricted to academic professions. Furthermore those school labs present an opportunity to make the work of a research centre more public by communicating them via the visiting pupils.
- School labs run by enterprises contain rather similar aims and functions as school labs for scientific communication. The main difference is that these school labs are closely connected to research-intensive enterprises of major industries. For this reason they can offer insights into corporate actions and operating processes. Depending on the school lab either whole classes or groups can trace various processes of the enterprise via simulated operations. This way pupils get to know possibilities as well as limits of corporate actions. Also they get insights of a technology-based economy. By presenting various career options the enterprises aim to attract young peoples' interest. Again pupils become multipliers for publishing the image of an enterprise in public.
- School labs with career guidance explicitly orient on vocational orientation. It is thus a supplement to the educational task of schools. As described in the definition all school labs aim at promoting young talents for professions in MINT. Yet most of the time they do it implicitly, and only sometimes give more detailed explanations. School labs with career guidance on the other hand introduce key aspects of various professions in scientific and technological working areas explicitly. They offer courses consisting of practice-oriented modules and working at authentic places. Different working methods of various jobs can be discovered, and personal interests and strengths detected. The realisation of these projects is made possible by numerous cooperations with industries, small and medium-sized companies, and science.
Haupt et al. point out that the process of categorisation has not been finalised yet. As the development of school labs continues, further categories may be added in the future (cf. [Haupt et al., 2013, page 325]).
Labelling categories
For distinguishing the categories Haupt et al. introduced new terms or rather labels. Each category gets an abbreviation in superscript form. If a school lab can be allocated to more than one category the abbreviations are listed in the order of priority. The following table displays the categories and the respective labels.
| Category | abbreviation | labelling |
|---|---|---|
| classic school lab | K | Schülerlabor^K |
| student research centre | F | Schülerlabor^F |
| teaching and learning lab | L | Schülerlabor^L |
| school lab for science communication | W | Schülerlabor^W |
| school labs run by enterprises | U | Schülerlabor^U |
| school lab with career guidance | B | Schülerlabor^B |