Abstract

Traditionally the purpose of engineering instructional laboratories has been to give students practical experience with tools based on theories and concepts that they have learnt in the lectures. Laboratories provide the opportunity to ‘learn by doing’. The knowledge imparted in these laboratories has been, to a large extent, in the cognitive domain. The importance of knowledge in the affective domain (behaviour and attitudes) is increasingly being recognized as engineering educators tackle the task of making a holistic engineer, that is, a graduate with the skills to work across intellectual, social and cultural boundaries. In this paper we describe how the experiential components of instructional laboratories can foster the development of skills in the affective domain of knowledge. These specific skills include teamwork, effective communication, ethics, safety, creativity and the ability to learn from failure.