Project-based teaching has been proven to be an effective approach in laboratory courses. At James Madison University, students in Physical Chemistry I Laboratory performed project-based experiments to gain research like experiences. The projects included computational studies of methanol structure, ion effects on caffeine partitioning thermodynamics, measuring partial molar volume of salts and water in aqueous solution, solvent effects on enthalpy of reaction for enol-keto tauomerization, and measurement of coefficient of thermal expansion using XRD. The students were expected to search literature, design experiments, collect and analyze data, and present their results in multiple reporting formats including short summaries, formal reports, and oral presentations. The project-based physical chemistry laboratory described in this presentation provided students with opportunities to learn how scientific research was performed in laboratory. This experience is especially important for those students who were not involved in research during their undergraduate career.

Project-based instruction in physical chemistry laboratory

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