Laboratory learning has largely been dominated by the presence of “cookbook” style laboratory experiments that do not provide students opportunities to engage in scientific inquiry. Despite numerous publications providing evidence of the benefits of inquiry-based learning, there has yet to be widespread adoption. The MICRO project sought to develop inquiry-based analytical chemistry laboratory experiments and to encourage faculty to shift their practices to be more inquiry-based. The MICRO laboratory experiments use microfluidic technology, which provide rapid results, allowing them to be inquiry-based and provide students opportunities to engage in scientific practices. This project was designed to support instructors as they implement inquiry-based microfluidic laboratory experiments by providing them with a community of practice. Through this project we assessed how faculty beliefs and instructional practices changed through their involvement in the MICRO project. To do so, we determined the level of inquiry of analytical chemistry laboratory experiments that participants traditionally used in their laboratory courses and the laboratory experiments that participants used during the semester that they implemented the inquiry-based MICRO laboratory experiments. Preliminary analysis of the impact of the MICRO project on the levels of inquiry of laboratory experiments used by analytical faculty are presented.

Assessing shifts in analytical chemistry faculty’s instructional practices after their involvement in the MICRO project

ACS Spring 2022

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