Mistake-Based Learning (MBL): A Mistake-Tolerant Teaching Approach for Developing Innovation-Related Competence in Undergraduate Chemistry Laboratories

Abstract

This study presents Mistake-Based Learning (MBL), an instructional approach grounded in Mistake-Tolerant Teaching and aimed at fostering students’ innovation literacy through the development of observable competencies in undergraduate chemistry laboratories. MBL is organized around a core cycle of mistake emergence, trial-and-error, and mistake transformation. It integrates innovation-literacy development, a mistake-tolerant learning environment, and structured laboratory practice through a five-stage pathway supported by three interacting drivers, with a four-part evaluation providing continuous formative feedback, guiding students to transform naturally occurring experimental mistakes into opportunities for inquiry, analysis, revision, and reflection. In a cocurricular “second classroom” setting with pharmacy-related undergraduates, MBL was implemented, with phenol nitration serving as an illustrative experimental case. Data were collected from pre-, mid-, and postimplementation questionnaires, student reports and presentations, students’ reflective materials, and records of key learning episodes. Under clearly defined safety boundaries and phased instructor support, students identified and worked through recurring problems in controlling reaction conditions, implementing procedures, and responding to unexpected outcomes by examining possible causes and refining their experimental decisions. Descriptive questionnaire results indicated a shift toward more process-oriented views of innovation, accompanied by stronger innovation-related self-efficacy and self-reported growth in adaptive inquiry, iterative resilience, and reflective integration. These findings suggest that MBL may provide a way to turn bound experimental uncertainty into a productive resource for inquiry, revision, and reflection, thereby offering a valuable pathway for cultivating innovation literacy in undergraduate chemistry laboratories.