NotesFAQContact Us
Collection
Advanced
Search Tips
Back to results
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
ERIC Number: EJ1442319
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2022-Dec
Pages: 9
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0021-9584
EISSN: EISSN-1938-1328
Cultivating Student Research Interests in Undergraduate Organic Chemistry Lab Course through Class Activity
Sydney Demers; Joshua Fung-A-Fat; Jeremy Andreatta; Margaret E. Kerr; Weichu Xu
Journal of Chemical Education, v99 n12 p3975-3983 2022
Undergraduate organic chemistry laboratory courses act as a baseline for introductory scientific experimentation. These courses provide students with the knowledge and skills for their future careers. The traditional lab is conducted by providing a structured protocol of the experiment for the students to follow and reproduce the assigned task while collecting data and making observations when prompted. Though this confirmation-style approach is effective at imparting skills, it fails to demonstrate the true nature of scientific experimentation, which is discovery and problem-solving. To this end, we have redesigned the organic chemistry laboratory courses by using a "research-esque" discovery-style learning, in which certain experiments are treated as a research project. During the lab, reaction parameters within the experiment were varied by the students to compare their results with their peers, so as to create an opportunity to increase the understanding of the experiment at hand, pique the students' interests in the subject, and create an environment that is similar to scientific research by redesigning the lab protocols. Some case studies are provided herein as samples of our pedagogical improvement.
Division of Chemical Education, Inc. and ACS Publications Division of the American Chemical Society. 1155 Sixteenth Street NW, Washington, DC 20036. Tel: 800-227-5558; Tel: 202-872-4600; e-mail: eic@jce.acs.org; Web site: http://pubs.acs.org/jchemeduc
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A