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Method development and assessment, central components of carrying out chemical research, require problem-solving skills. This article describes a pedagogical approach for teaching these skills through the adaptation of published experiments and application of group-meeting style discussions to the curriculum of an undergraduate instrumental analysis course. The main assumption is that in order for undergraduate students to adopt and adapt published experiments, they must comprehend the literature. Pre-lab and post-lab group meetings are used to enhance this comprehension, communication skills, and group interaction. Evidence that the learning objectives are met during the course includes: an increase in student discussion concerning experimental design prior to bench work; greater student confidence at the start of experiments; and improvement of laboratory report content. Evidence that students believe the format is beneficial has been obtained from surveys and course evaluations.

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