As a teacher in the science lab I see myself as a choreographer directing and coaching students to learn the course material and contribute to scientific knowledge. This image arises in part from my belief that each student is an important individual regardless of his or her ability to succeed academically or otherwise. In teaching laboratory techniques to my students I draw upon the ideas and methodologies proposed for motor learning, movement and dance education because these methodologies can be adapted and applied to the successful teaching of technically complex tasks, such as those required in a science lab. In this article I show how I apply the image of myself as choreographer to the laboratory to develop my students' experiment techniques and motors skills. Following this I illustrate how this method of teaching laboratory techniques also helps in the development of students' writing skills, especially as they are required for lab reports in science courses.

My familiarity with some of the research on students' different learning styles has made me realize that each student may learn specific techniques, such as a dissection or a titration, in a variety of ways. Jane Winearls, a movement analyst and researcher, has identified three learning styles that highlight the different ways in which students learn, applicable to learning lab techniques:

1. Bracing for learning: those students who intellectually grasp what is to be done but need to translate the knowing into a physical understanding by doing the task;
2. Feeling for action: those students who plunge into the task often lacking accurate details of how the task is to be done; and
3. Actively listening with the body: those students who seem to receive an accurate impression and can in their own time give a fully integrated performance of the task.

As teaching assistants I think many of us teach to those students whose learning style fits only one of these categories, likely our own, leaving the other students to flounder as best they can. I have found that considering students' different learning styles has helped me develop more inclusive teaching techniques, as I can better anticipate what comments and instructions would best help each student.

Dance choreographers and sports coaches often use mental imagery to teach body movement techniques to dancers and athletes. Research in sport science and movement education supports the hypothesis that the use of mental imagery, "the psychological activity which evokes physical characteristics of an absent object or dynamic event," improves motor skills. In my role as a science lab instructor, I have found that imagery can also be successfully applied to teaching science laboratory skills and methods. Table 1 shows how imagery may be categorized and also how I have applied imagery in teaching biology lab techniques. I have found that the use of imagery empowers the students in my lab to believe that they are capable of accomplishing technically difficult tasks. For example, diluting a sample of bacteria from a dense bacteria colony was compared to the dilution of concentrated drink mix: the implication is that if you understand how to make juice you can do the lab on dilutions. I find that most descriptions and explanations of a laboratory technique could benefit from the animation provided by imagery.

Table 1. Categorization of imagery adapted from Minton, S.C. 1997. Choreography: a basic approach using improvisation. 2nd ed. Champaign, IL p. 15. I have included imagery I used in teaching genetics laboratory techniques. I used mental imagery to bring to life the descriptions of techniques written in the lab manual and in general it effectively conveyed the nuances of movement needed for the performance of the technique.
 

Category	Description	Dance example	Biology lab example
Visuala (Paivio, 1971.)	A picture in the mind.	Visualize your body as a star.	Locust testicular tubules look like bunches of bananas.
Kinesthetica (Paivio, 1971.)	Body feelings. What the body should feel.	Imagine the feeling of your feet on a hot sidewalk.	Cutting through a fungal perithecium feels like cutting a grapefruit with a knife.
Direct (Overby, 1990)	Similar to mental rehearsal or seeing specific movements in your mind.	Visualize yourself performing a leap.	Visualize yourself pouring a top agar plate.
Indirect (Studd, 1983)	A metaphor for the movement. Exists outside your body.	Move like a dry leaf as it floats to the ground.	Spread the bacteria in each direction on the agar plate as you would paint a wall.
Specific (Hanarahan & Salmela, 1990)	An image directed to a particular part of the body.	Lift one arm and focus on the feeling of heaviness in that arm.	Hold the pipette between your fingers as you would hold chopsticks, and then open the screw-cap bottle.
Global (Hanarahan & Salmela, 1990)	General images that include the entire body.	Imagine your whole body as transparent.	Imagine you are taking pictures each as a child grows (for periodically monitoring the growth of a bacterial culture).

Although the use of imagery may help your students to understand the processes required of an experiment, TAs may not always be able to utilize this creative teaching technique. In this case, the TA should consider amplifying and explaining the descriptions of the processes that are contained in the course lab manuals. The principles of Laban movement, analysis, space, time and energy, might be used by TAs to reiterate and explain ideas and techniques outlined in the students' lab manuals. The following example illustrates how the concepts of space, time and energy may be used in the dissection of a fungal perithecium:

1. spatial information:the students need to know the location of the fungal cultures and the location of the perithecia within those cultures;
2. temporal information: the students need to know when to cover the preparation with a coverslip; and
3. energy information: the students need to know how hard they should press down on the glass coverslip to obtain a good spread of the pores to be counted.

The use of imagery and description to illustrate lab techniques can greatly enhance students' learning and confidence in the science laboratory. An additional teaching technique that can be used by all science TAs, that relies less on spoken language, is demonstration. Although science laboratories may not be physically suitable for demonstrations (due to high laboratory benches with little open space), TAs should nonetheless strive to include demonstrations for their students so they can see how the required techniques are to be conducted.

Combining imagery, verbal instructions and demonstrations in the lab setting helps students to learn how to do the required techniques while developing their confidence and competence as scientists. Furthermore, I have found that talking one-on-one with each student allows me to assess their understanding of the purposes and anticipated results of the experiment at hand, while also providing them with the opportunity to have me clarify tasks and ideas for them. By using various teaching techniques in the lab setting, the TA will be better able to teach all the students in his or her class, appealing to students individually, according to their learning style.

My role as a teacher of science students in the lab does not end once they master lab techniques. Although students may be able to conduct and understand laboratory experiments, their newly learned skills and knowledge may not automatically transfer into their written lab reports. This is a critical consideration for me as an educator for two main reasons: first, the assessment of my students comes primarily from their written reports; and second, the future success of my students largely depends on their written skills, both academically (applying for research grants) and beyond.

To help my students develop their writing abilities, I questioned what I, as a laboratory instructor, could do. I have found that clearly explaining the instructions and learning objectives for each lab experiment helped my students to write satisfactory reports; what I do is to explicitly state the purpose of the lab and the learning objectives of the written report in my pre-lab talk. I introduce and explain the concepts that are important to the specific lab and report, and I outline why and how the procedures should be done, what results students might expect and how the results could be analyzed. I have found that by clearly outlining the key concepts and ideas of each particular lab, my students were better prepared to conduct the lab and write a satisfactory report.

By applying imagery and description to explain ideas, and movement analysis to demonstrate activities, and by providing clear, logical presentation of the required lab procedures, I have facilitated students' learning and the development of their laboratory skills. Furthermore, their improved understanding of the procedures and activities of the laboratory has translated into the ability to write good lab reports. Like a dance choreographer or sports coach who trains his or her dancers or athletes to perform bodily movement to achieve an artistic or athletic goal, my 'coaching' of science students in the lab allows my students to reach our mutual goal of student learning and success as scientists.

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References:

Hanarahan C. and J.H. Salmela. 1990. "Dance images: do they really work or are we just imagining things?" Journal of Physical Education, Recreation and Dance 61: 18-21.

Krasnow, D.H., Chatfield, S.J. Barr, S., Jensen, J.L. and Dufek, J.S. 1997. "Imagery and conditioning practices for dancers." Dance Research Journal, 29: 43-64.

Overby, L.Y.. "The use of imagery by dance teachers: development and implementation of two research instruments." Journal of Physical Education, Research and Dance, 61: 24- 27.

Paivio, A. 1971. Imagery and verbal processes. New York: Holt, Reinhart & Winston.

Studd, K. 1983. Ideokinesis, "Mental rehearsal and relaxation applied to dance techniques". Masters Thesis. University of Oregon, Eugene.

Winearls, J. 1990. Choreography: The Art of the Body an Anatomy of Expression. London: Dance Books.