Increasing the inquiry level of lab activities exposes students to more authentic science practices, including developing questions, designing experiments, selecting analysis methods, iterating methodology, drawing conclusions from data, and communicating results. The University of Washington offers two sections of quantitative analysis lab during each of the four quarters of the year. Undergraduate students, primarily chemistry majors in their third or fourth year, participate in ~9 hours/week of laboratory activities. Success throughout the year requires contributions from an instructional team comprised of at least four instructors, eight teaching assistants, and an instructional technician. Previously, the lab curriculum included only highly structured activities. Through our participation in the MICRO project, we have implemented a variety of high-inquiry, paper-based microfluidic activities that target a range of learning objectives, including dilutions, standardization, graphical analysis, equilibrium chemistry, titrations, colorimetry, and potentiometry. We will discuss the benefits, challenges, and lessons learned during our experiences using the MICRO activities during in-person synchronous, remote synchronous, and remote asynchronous lab sections.

High-inquiry, MICRO labs in multi-section lab courses: Experiences at the University of Washington

Where thousands of chemistry professionals meet to share ideas and advance scientific and technical knowledge. Spring 2023 abstracts, posters, and presentations will launch at the end of March.

ACS Spring 2023

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.