A reoccurring issue in the general chemistry laboratory is that students fail to make connections between the data collected and the overall purpose for the experiment. This becomes apparent in the results and discussion section of the lab report and implies that the objectives of the experiment are not obvious or interpretable for the student. The use of concept mapping as a supplemental learning tool is a research-proven technique for improving student understanding of abstract concepts. The LabMap is a student-designed concept map intended to help students construct links between the purpose of the lab, the key data collected, and the results. All groups will perform the same experiment and be asked to write a formal report, with selected sections completing their concept map prior to writing the report. Final grades on all reports will be analyzed to create improvement curves. The LabMap documents will be collected, coded, and analyzed.

Effects of concept mapping on formal report quality in the general chemistry laboratory

245th National Meeting (2013)

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