The Organic Lab: A Status Quo Report and a Two-Semesters-in-One Approach

Abstract

Chemistry laboratory courses were developed originally to give students actual experience with the everyday applications of chemistry they may need to know as practicing chemists (1). Yet even in those early days, professors recognized that they could only teach part of the knowledge that a practicing chemist might need (2). Today's labs often are intended to illustrate concepts that students should understand, and modern technology can be an important component in these labs ( 3). Yet we know that students do not always understand what they are doing or why (4).How have organic chemistry labs evolved through the years? The latest major development is the inclusion of, or complete conversion to, microscale experiments. Most laboratory texts on the market today include microscale techniques (5). Although the initial expense of changing equipment can be great (6), much of the equipment can be improvised (7). Microscale labs are less time-consuming and starting material needs are less. Students who make mistakes can often redo an entire experiment without "losing" time in the lab. The volume of waste is minimized, too. These techniques are being touted in this Journal through a "Feature" and even in the comic "Archie" (8).Organic chemists are also moving toward more openended labs. Pickering's jab that we should eliminate the "cosmic futility" of our "cookbook" lab experiments brought indignant responses (9)! We do expect the students in our labs to be thinking while they are doing their experiments. Kandel believes that students "can learn problem-solving and 'cooking' together" (10). Ikan suggested that an equilibrium develops between the theoretical and the practical aspects of organic chemistry experiments (11). Faculty are also responding by developing laboratory curricula that require "multi-tasking" and that mimic research experiences (12).In his examination of the state of undergraduate organic chemistry instruction in 1990 (13), Johnson noted that "a long-standing problem in organic chemistry instruction has been the basic philosophy behind the laboratory. Is its purpose to support and exemplify the material covered in lecture, or is it to be free standing?" The answers to this question and to those raised by Pickering are fundamental to how we teach and organize our organic chemistry labs.This paper describes our efforts to learn more about the administration and purposes of organic chemistry labs. It comprises two separate but related investigations: a survey of how various institutions organize and teach their organic chemistry labs, and an evaluation of a different approach to our organic chemistry lab here at Truman State University. Survey of Organic Chemistry Labs ElsewhereAs Johnson described above, two limits can be envisioned for teaching the organic chemistry laboratory: "lab supporting lecture" and "lab independent from lecture".

Comparable Educational Benefits in Half the Time: An Alternating Organic Chemistry Laboratory Sequence Targeting Prehealth Students

“…Certain curricular revisions have specifically involved the chemistry laboratory, and clearly, the requirement of a laboratory experience for prehealth students is less conserved across institutions. At some institutions, nonchemistry majors either enroll in one semester of lab (which may or may not be linked to the lecture) or they do not have a lab experience. A writing-focused lab model that alternates traditional experiments with dry laboratories has been recently implemented at Duke University .…”