The laboratory aims questionnaire—A new method for course improvement?

A simple method of diagnosing areas for course improvement in university science and engineering laboratory courses is described. A first year physics laboratory course is examined in terms of a set of aims. A questionnaire was used for staff and students to rate the importance of these aims in the cases (i) of each group's conception of what an ideal course in the subject should be, and (ii) each group's rating of the “traditional” and “non-traditional” components of the particular course under investigation. One means of identifying specific areas of improvement is out-lined. The potentialities of the technique are discussed.