Danish University Faculty Perspectives on Student Learning Outcomes in the Teaching Laboratories of a Pharmaceutical Sciences Education

With the purpose of bridging research and practice, faculty members teaching laboratory courses in pharmaceutical sciences at a research university in Denmark were interviewed about their perspectives on learning outcomes of laboratory work. Findings from a recent systematic review of learning outcomes associated with laboratory work at the university level were used as a frame of reference and the outset for the discussions. University professors experienced in laboratory instruction were divided into focus groups to substantiate and relate the educational constructs extracted from the review to their own teaching experience. Thematic analysis was used to explore the professors' experience on whether and how their students developed experimental competences, disciplinary learning, higher-order thinking skills, epistemic learning, and generic competences, together with constructs from the affective domain. The analysis demonstrated that most constructs were relatable and observable in practice. Basic experimental competences and disciplinary learning were observed in the early stage of their education, progressing toward higher-order thinking skills in the bachelor's and master's projects. Some directions for future research and teachers' professional development are proposed.