Integrating Smart Worksheets into mandatory pre-laboratory exercises increased exercise completion rates and laboratory test grades

Pre-laboratory exercises are assigned to promote student preparedness, but these provide no benefit if students do not engage. Students’ perceived barriers to pre-laboratory-exercise engagement were identified via analysis of open and closed survey questions; key issues were time burden and perceived complexity. To facilitate future engagement, students suggested making pre-laboratory exercises clearer and easier to access with stylistic changes, as well as making them mandatory. Two interventions to first-year laboratories were implemented. First, LearnSci Smart Worksheets were deployed alongside traditional pre-laboratory exercises; these worksheets are interactive and scaffold learning. Second, the laboratory pass condition was changed from ‘70% physical attendance’ to ‘80% engagement’. Engagement points were awarded for physically attending laboratory sessions (3 points) and for completing pre-laboratory exercises (0.5 points for traditional exercise, 0.5 points for Smart Worksheet exercise). Passing thus required a combination of physical attendance and completion of pre-laboratory exercises. Prior to the interventions, pre-laboratory exercises had low completion rates (16 ± 11% of students completed each monitored exercise). Post-interventions, 84 ± 3% of students completed each Smart Worksheet, and 79 ± 4% completed the traditional exercises. There was a statistically significant increase in mean laboratory test marks post-intervention (pre-intervention 65 ± 11%; post-intervention 72 ± 10%). Post-intervention, pre-laboratory exercise completion was significantly positively correlated with laboratory test marks. We hypothesise these two interventions increased incentives to engage with pre-laboratory exercises and so contributed to increasing student success.