Reassessment of Laboratory Work

Before World War II, laboratory work was one of the critical components in engineering education where students experienced learning practically. It has undergone major changes since the war where basic knowledge has become extremely important to enable engineers to solve new problems innovatively. Consequently, the role of laboratory work becomes less important and is often taken lightly. Students are also of the opinion that laboratory work is burdensome and is not beneficial to them. The practice of students copying past year's laboratory reports has become an issue which is often discussed. Feedback from employers reveals that graduates lack the ability to relate laboratory work to the real world. This paper presents recommendations on how to solve the problem by looking at laboratory work from the Problem Based Learning approach where students are given an actual problem to solve using several laboratory tests. This approach has motivated students to see and realize the link between laboratory work and actual engineering problems.