Abstract
Students are given one quarter to accomplish each project. Most students work hard to finish the project early (before finals start) and then find time to write an unrushed lab report. We further encourage this efficient use of time by allowing students to turn in rough drafts of their lab reports for professorial editing. This critiquing usually produces a much more detailed final report. Previously, we found that students were often long on experimental details and short on overall concept, such as what gels and columns are actually supposed to accomplish for the experimenter. However, the final reports of the new project-type labs revealed that students had a much better grasp of the concepts than with our earlier "cookbook" type labs. Overall, students greatly enjoyed the extra freedom granted them and quickly learned how to work independently in a laboratory setting. They were also forced to develop overall strategies for the entire project, such as budgeting time wisely and making sure that all reagents were ready before the extract was added to the chromatography column. The only other labs in our curriculum that require students to plan for an entire quarter as opposed to one afternoon at a time are qualitative organic analysis and general qualitative analysis. We feel certain that it is no coincidence that students enjoy those labs and often comment that these (along with the "new" biochemistry labs) are the toughest but most meaningful lab experiences of their undergraduate careers.
Original language | American English |
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Journal | Journal of Chemical Education |
Volume | 74 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Jan 1 1997 |
Disciplines
- Chemistry