General Chemistry is often a struggle for students who have had little to no experience in the laboratory setting. At McDaniel College, a small liberal arts institution, an increasing proportion of incoming students are lacking fundamental skills and practical hands-on experience in STEM. Our goal for this work was to make experiments more accessible to all students and apply concepts that are more applicable or more interesting to Gen Z students. My group, comprised of recent general chemistry course graduates, spent the summer redesigning and restructuring the general chemistry lab experience to improve student performance and preparation for future lab-based courses. We enhanced previous labs by reducing hazards and overall waste production, and we improved reliability of several troublesome experiments. Our group produced a new series of introductory experiments that guide students into the lab instead of throwing them in the deep end and expecting them to succeed. Some of the new labs include “Introduction to Data Collection and Analysis” and “Introduction to Measurement Techniques”. Other new experiments introduce students to principles in chemistry through testing and synthesizing household products. The new general chemistry curriculum at McDaniel College puts a more modern twist on traditional chemistry topics. This presentation will compare the previous lab experiments performed in the McDaniel chemistry curriculum with the new labs we developed and discuss how these improvements have impacted student performance and comfort in the lab setting during the 2019-2020 academic year.

Modernizing the general chemistry lab curriculum to improve student learning and comfort in the lab

Macromolecular Chemistry: The Second Century

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ACS Spring 2020 National Meeting & Expo

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.