To better understand how inquiry-based instruction affects undergraduate learning, project-based chemistry laboratory courses have been developed for beginning and advanced students. Freshmen are given a project with a brief introduction. They are encouraged to use their textbook or the Internet to familiarize themselves with the relevant theory and experiments. They must provide a self-designed, detailed procedure to be followed throughout experiments. Students then validate their designs, compare their data to the true value or to the results from another method and write laboratory reports. Senior students are encouraged to follow a typical research process: from literature survey, problem identification, and experimental design, through sample preparation, measurements, results, discussion, and conclusion to a scientific report. This pedagogy has been used for three semesters and assessed by instructors’ grading and student pre- and post-course surveys. We found it was successful on multiple fronts. Students’ satisfaction, responsibility, and scientific skills, such as data analysis and argumentative writing, are greatly improved throughout the college year.

Project-based chemistry laboratories for beginning and advanced students

2019 Spring National Meeting

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