The unanticipated COVID-19 pandemic forced educational institutions to shift to a remote or distance-learning mode. This sudden transition to an online teaching modality presented great challenges, especially in conducting laboratory courses. While several alternative options for teaching General Chemistry laboratory classes are possible, we offered the course as an asynchronous modality during the Summer Sessions (2020-2021), and evaluated the use of (i) videos of lab demonstrations, (ii) Microsoft PowerPoint slides with voice-over recordings that were prepared to further guide students in the particular procedure of the experiment, and (iii) kitchen-based experiments that students could perform at home. The students were surveyed for feedback, comments, and reactions to the use of these different practices. Based on student comments, it was found that the use of videos was beneficial as it allowed the students to visualize how the experiments were conducted with some students commenting that it made them feel as if they were actually performing the experiments themselves. The kitchen-based experiments, on the other hand, allowed students to experience performing hands-on experiments and helped them to observe and relate to concepts (such as classifying matter, making physical measurements, employing units and significant figures, preparing solutions, calculating moles and molarity, and employing separation techniques) that were discussed in the lecture portion of the course. Challenges encountered and students’ reactions to the practices utilized in a General Chemistry Laboratory course during the COVID-19 pandemic will be presented.

Teaching a general chemistry laboratory course during the COVID-19 pandemic

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