GENERAL CHEMISTRY LABORATORY CURRICULUM SURVEY Steven L Brown General Chemistry Lab Manager & Adjunct Lecturer Department of Chemistry University of Arizona.

GENERAL CHEMISTRY GENERAL CHEMISTRY LABORATORYLABORATORY

CURRICULUM SURVEY CURRICULUM SURVEY

Steven L BrownSteven L BrownGeneral Chemistry Lab ManagerGeneral Chemistry Lab Manager

& Adjunct Lecturer& Adjunct LecturerDepartment of ChemistryDepartment of Chemistry

University of ArizonaUniversity of Arizona

DescriptionDescription

A survey of general chemistry laboratory programs.  The questions are designed to solicit information about the curriculum currently being offered in all post-secondary

chemistry programs.  The intent is to identify major trends and to share this information with those responsible for

developing and maintaining general chemistry laboratory programs.

The survey consists of 40 multiple choice questions and one essay question.

Who Participated (so far)?Who Participated (so far)?76 Colleges and Universities from across the US

• 56 Public State Universities

• 8 Private Universities

• 12 Colleges

• Average enrollment: 14,633

•http://quiz2.chem.arizona.edu/labsurvey/

Areas CoveredAreas CoveredI Structure

II Determining Experiments

III Current Content

IV Cooperative Learning

IV Scientific Writing

V Educational Support Materials

VI Other (funding, ideas, computer notebooks, assessment)

Part I: STRUCTURE.Part I: STRUCTURE.Seven questions about the relationship Seven questions about the relationship

of lab to lecture and who does what of lab to lecture and who does what in the lab portion of the course.in the lab portion of the course.

Lecture/lab one couse or two. Still about 50/50

For your largest science and engineering lab course, how many hours per week are students in lab? 3.2

For your largest science and engineering lab course, on average, how many hours per week do students spend outside of the lab on lab assignments? 2.6

Who does Who does what.what. Faculty TAs Staff

Primary responsible party in the

lab

56% 44% 00

Prepares reagents & materials

5% 24% 71%

Maintain Equipment

20% 5% 75%

Part II: DETERMINING Part II: DETERMINING EXPERIMENTSEXPERIMENTS

Eight questions regarding who decides what Eight questions regarding who decides what experiments are performed and how they are experiments are performed and how they are

presented to students.presented to students.

Who decides which experiments are performed and Who decides which experiments are performed and what is taught? what is taught?

The Faculty as a wholeThe Faculty as a whole 8 %8 % A subgroup of the faculty (e.g. a curriculum A subgroup of the faculty (e.g. a curriculum

committee) committee) 20 %20 % The person(s) responsible for the course The person(s) responsible for the course 72 %72 %

Where do your experiments come from? Where do your experiments come from? 

Original content written by someone in the Original content written by someone in the department. department. 64 %64 %

Adoption of a nationally pub. lab manual. Adoption of a nationally pub. lab manual. 9 %9 % Prewritten labs from a publisher in a custom-Prewritten labs from a publisher in a custom-

assembled lab manual.assembled lab manual. 7 %7 % Copied or borrowed from other sources. Copied or borrowed from other sources. 00 Mixture of above.Mixture of above. 20 %20 %

“The source or sources of the liberal studies course exercises is lost.”

How are the experiments presented to How are the experiments presented to students?  students?  

A nationally published lab manual. A nationally published lab manual. 9 %9 % A custom published lab manual using experiments provided A custom published lab manual using experiments provided

by the publisher.by the publisher. 5 %5 % A custom published lab manual using locally generated A custom published lab manual using locally generated

experiments. experiments. 36 %36 % Local reproduction sold locally. Local reproduction sold locally. 29 %29 % Local reproduction provided free to students (including Local reproduction provided free to students (including

posting to websites). posting to websites). 8 %8 % Mixture of above Mixture of above 13 %13 %   

14. How frequently are experiments modified? 14. How frequently are experiments modified?    For a typical 2-semester sequence, what    For a typical 2-semester sequence, what fraction of the experiments are modified in fraction of the experiments are modified in

some way in an average year?  some way in an average year?  

    more than 50% more than 50% 8 %8 %     25 - 50% 25 - 50% 18 %18 %     10 - 25% 10 - 25% 46 %46 %     less than 10%, but greater than 0 less than 10%, but greater than 0 26 %26 %     None None 1 %1 %

Part III: CURRENT CONTENT.Part III: CURRENT CONTENT.Three questions regarding curriculum.Three questions regarding curriculum.

Techniques taughtTechniques taught

100% Graphing of laboratory measurements

99% Titration, acid/base.

95% Absorption spectroscopy using the Beer-Lambert law.

86% Calorimetry

86% Gas law determination or application

82% Qualitative Analysis

70% Determination of density

53% Molecular modeling

50% Emission spectroscopy

46% Titration, oxidation-reduction.

36% Paper chromatography

28% Titration, complexometric.

20% Thin layer chromatography

16% Titration, precipitation

Old Favorites Old Favorites

74% Qualitative analysis of cations in solution.

51% Determination of a MW using the gas law.

43% Law of constant composition

36% Dehydration of a hydrated salt.

33% Determination of hydrogen emission lines.

28% Paper chromatography of food dyes.

25% Acid/base titration of antacids.

22% EDTA titration for water hardness.

18% Acid/base titration of aspirin tablets.

14% Unit cell models and calculations.

8% Paper chromatography of amino acids.

Instructional approach: Instructional approach:

Some number given

Average of responses

% Skill Building/Verification (Students are provided highly structured directions to follow to produce expected outcomes)

92% 74%

% Guided (Students are allowed some choices regarding data collection and observation for purpose of testing fit to hypothesis)

79% 28%

% Open Inquiry (students design experiments to answer questions)

46% 18%

Part IV: COOPERATIVE LEARNING.Part IV: COOPERATIVE LEARNING.Three questions about the use of group work in lab.Three questions about the use of group work in lab.

Students work individually in lab on their own experiments. Collaboration is normally discouraged.

19%

Students work in groups, but each student has a well defined role and individual responsibilities to the group.

4%

Students work in groups with no individually defined roles. Students decide for themselves who will do what.

60%

A mixture of individual and group work 17%

Working in the Lab

Doing AssignmentsDoing Assignments

Students do their own assignments and collaboration is discouraged. 20%

Students are encouraged to collaborate, but submit individual assignments. 67%

Students prepare group assignments, but have clearly defined roles with individual responsibilities to the group. 3%

Students prepare group assignments with no individually defined responsibilities 7%

Mixture of the above 4%

Grading students' workGrading students' work

No collaboration. Students do their own work and are graded individually. 29%

Students are encouraged to collaborate, but all grading is on an individual basis. 55%

For some assignments the group received a common grade, for others the grading in on an individual basis. 12%

Students are graded in groups with all students in the group receiving the same grade. 4%

'They all receive the same grade if they allocate 'They all receive the same grade if they allocate participation points equally. They must divy up to participation points equally. They must divy up to

+/-10 points, the total of which must add up to +/-10 points, the total of which must add up to zero. The total is adjusted up or down based upon zero. The total is adjusted up or down based upon agreed upon points. They sign off on participation agreed upon points. They sign off on participation

points. If a person gets a -10 from the group points. If a person gets a -10 from the group grade, the TA will inform that person that he/she is grade, the TA will inform that person that he/she is

to produce his/her own report until the group to produce his/her own report until the group accepts them back into the group for the report. accepts them back into the group for the report.

They can still participate as a member of the group They can still participate as a member of the group during the lab. This has been working marginally. during the lab. This has been working marginally.

(the other) Part IV: SCIENTIFIC WRITING.(the other) Part IV: SCIENTIFIC WRITING.

Six questions on the development of scientific writing skills.Six questions on the development of scientific writing skills. Do you require your students to keep a lab notebook?     71 % Yes 29 % No

If your students are required to keep a notebook, how is it evaluated?

No evaluation 20%

The instructor grades the notebook in class 6%

The notebook is submitted to the instructor who grades it 22%

Copies of the notebook entries are submitted for evaluation. 48%

Copies of the notebook entries are submitted, but the original notebook is evaluated. 4%

Teaching WritingTeaching Writing

teaching lab notebook

use

teaching technical writing

One of the highest priorities 22% 25%

Somewhat important 53% 46%

Neutral 11% 16%

Low priority 9% 12%

Not important at all. 5% 1%

Level of WritingLevel of Writing

No writing required 0%

Students fill in data tables and worksheets consisting of short, directed questions. 45%

Students write a report and answer questions that serve as a discussion. 26%

Students write a report and generate their own discussion. 29%

Writing supportWriting supportIn recent years a number of mechanisms to support

and augment the teaching of scientific writing have been tried.   Which of the following do you employ to help students develop their scientific writing skills? Please select all that apply.

31 Students write reports employing standard journal

formats.

5 Students submit drafts of their reports and receive

feedback before generating the final report.

3 The CPR web-based writing program is employed.

“Science Writing Heuristic”

“Nothing really. This is something that I must start to work hard on to benefit my students.”

Part V: EDUCATIONAL SUPPORT Part V: EDUCATIONAL SUPPORT

MATERIALSMATERIALS..Seven questions about various materials used to support Seven questions about various materials used to support

laboratory instruction.laboratory instruction. None used. 25%

Blackboard® 26%

WebCT® 16%

Desire 2 Learn® 1%

Course, department or school web site alone. 20%

Other. (MCWeb, Angel, educator, Moodle, Webassign, DISCUS) and mixture 12%

Please indicate which computer interface for data Please indicate which computer interface for data collection, if any, your students use in your labs. collection, if any, your students use in your labs.

No interface used 46%

Labview 1%

Labworks 4%

Pasco 4%

Measurenet 4%

Vernier 31%

MicroLab 3%

Mixture. 7%

Do you require your students to use a data analysis tool to Do you require your students to use a data analysis tool to manipulate the measurements they make in lab? If so, manipulate the measurements they make in lab? If so, which of the following? (sums to more than 100% due to which of the following? (sums to more than 100% due to multiple responses.)multiple responses.)

No tool required. 14%

Tools required, but students are free to choose. 12%

Excel® or other equivalent spreadsheet program. 70%

Access® or other equivalent database program. 1%

Scientific or graphing calculator. 20%

Other specific program. Please name. 13%

Logger Pro 7%

Part VI: OTHER.Part VI: OTHER.Six random questions on a variety of topics.Six random questions on a variety of topics.

Please estimate the out-of-pocket expenses for a student in your lab courses for each of the following (for a full year course). #

Average of responses

lab manual. 69 $ 29.10

lab fees (used by department for course expenses). 45 $ 65.50

equipment purchase/rental. 2 $ 7.50

lab supplies such as goggles, apron, notebook, etc. 61 $ 16.90

other expenses. Please briefly describe. 11 $ 14.70

Where do you get new ideas for chemistry Where do you get new ideas for chemistry lab education? (ranked)lab education? (ranked)

1st 2nd 3rd 4th 5th SourceSource

11 11 9 15 16 conferences, etc.

19 19 19 7 6 journals e.g. JChemEd.

21 23 9 10 8 informal peer interactions.

6 7 10 16 20 publishers.

17 10 18 11 9 I make them up myself.

2 3 2 3 3 other sources.

The advent of the computer brought visions of a paperless work environment. Such things as notebook computers and electronic data capture hope to replace the current hand-written laboratory notebook. Which of the following statements comes closest to your view on the future of the hand-written laboratory notebook over the next ten years.

I expect no significant change in the use of laboratory notebooks. 36%

Notebooks will continue to be used to record conditions and observations, but will be used less

and less to record numerical data. 60%

The handwritten lab notebook is doomed to be replaced with one or more computer-based tools. 4%

Labs can be used to teach students how chemical knowledge is acquired in the lab. They can also be used to develop the student's lab skills. And they can be used to develop understanding of concepts presented in lecture. Please estimate the relative emphasis placed on these three objectives as currently practiced in your program. (Average of reported percentages.)

to teach students how chemical knowledge is acquired in the lab

26.6

to develop the student's lab skills. 34.7

to develop understanding of concepts presented in lecture.

38.4

What kind of data do you use to determine the success of your laboratory classes?  (Sum exceeds 100 due to multiple responses).

Course evaluations submitted by students. 80%

Student test outcomes. 53%

Student satisfaction surveys. 28%

Student interviews. 12%

Instructor interviews or surveys. 25%

No formal method is employed to determine success. 12%

Briefly describe the trend(s) that you believe will Briefly describe the trend(s) that you believe will most significantly change the way your laboratory most significantly change the way your laboratory

program will be run in the next 3-5 years.program will be run in the next 3-5 years.

No Answer 11

chemcial safety issues 5

guided inquiry 10

technology 18

budgets 2

instrumentation 4

• We also just like to change things up. It keeps the faculty fresh.

• The shift from chemistry to biochemistry as the "central science“

• We are just starting a program to develop prelab videos

• The basic idea of general chemistry is basic chemistry, and most automation automates out

precisely what we want to teach• We need to keep students interested and engaged

while providing the lab skills their career paths expect them to have

• We chemical educators face a challenge of not bowing to student pressure to make things easy

and fun.• Student preparation in high school is getting

poorer by the year. At some point, we either have to fail more people, or dumb down the material. I

wish neither were necessary.

• More online course management. More computer molecular modeling.

• EPA, RICRA, etc. regulations on waste management, safety, etc. will force us to NOT offer wet general chemistry laboratories, we will have to

use computer simulations.

AcknowledgementsAcknowledgements

Funding for this survey has been provided Funding for this survey has been provided by Hayden-McNeil Publishing, Inc. by Hayden-McNeil Publishing, Inc.

The Department of Chemistry, University The Department of Chemistry, University of Arizona.of Arizona.

The 76 individuals who took the time to The 76 individuals who took the time to complete the survey.complete the survey.