While numerous studies have shown the strong, positive pedagogic value of undergraduate research, limits on laboratory space, faculty time and other resources often place constraints on the ability to provide this experience to a large number of students. In order to at least partially address these interrelated set of problems, I have evolved the laboratory component of our Inorganic Chemistry course (taken by all chemistry majors as well as many minors) from a traditional "cookbook" experience to a collaborative research model. In this approach, students work collaboratively with each other and with the instructor on open ended projects drawn from the instructor's research agenda. This collaborative approach, which includes sharing of experimental tasks, pooling of data, and authentic writing and presentation experiences, mimics a research laboratory environment and the dynamics of a research group whil allowing fo authentic reproducibility and authentication of data. In this presentation, I will outline the evolution of the laboratory curriculum in this course and discuss lessons learned along the way.

Increasing reach: Dealing with resource limitations and scalabilty issues by bringing collaborative research into the teaching laboratory

249th National Meeting (2015)

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