Table 7.

Learning activities in conventional cookbook-style and MBL approaches

Conventional cookbook-style learning approach	MBL approach
Prelab
Spend little effort to understand lab contents	Make effort to redesign/mutate experiments, including reference review, group discussion, proposal writing, and preparation of chemicals and buffers
In lab
Follow standard instructions, conduct experiments in an orderly manner without deviations, get anticipated results for most experiments, and learn technique skills and underlying principles	Conduct experiments facilitated by teaching assistants, experience uncertainties and a sense of ownership, get various and sometimes unanticipated results, learn additional technique skills/knowledge by doing
Postlab
Individually process data and write a report, reiterate underlying principles in their own words	Share and discuss results with group members, compare and analyze results from different approaches, cope with unanticipated data, re-examine experimental design, write a report (as an individual, not as part of a group), form a conclusion to support or falsify a hypothesis