A series of quantitative studies investigated undergraduate students' perceptions of their cognitive and affective learning in the undergraduate chemistry laboratory. To explore these quantitative findings, a qualitative research protocol was developed to characterize student learning in the undergraduate chemistry laboratory. Students (N = 13) were observed and video recorded while performing one of their assigned laboratory experiments. Each student wore an action camera as well as a lapel microphone attached to a voice recorder to capture the experiment from the students' perspective. A tripod camera was also placed unobtrusively in the lab to record the student from a third person perspective. Students were interviewed within 48 hours of their video recording and asked to identify specific learning experiences in their laboratory experiment. The self-selected video episodes were shown to the students, and they were asked to describe what they were doing and why they were doing it. The students' descriptions were analyzed using Novak's theory of meaningful learning to characterize their cognitive and affective experiences. The self-identified learning experiences were dominated by descriptions of psychomotor learning with few students discussing cognitive experiences. The limited connections between cognitive and affective experiences revealed missed opportunities for meaningful learning.