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A PARTIAL SOLUTION FOR FRESHMAN CHEMISTRY CONGESTION
RALPH E. DUNBAR North Dakota Agriculture College, Fargo, North Dakota
M o w COLLEGIATE institutions today are facing numerous grave, complicated, and necessary adjustments due to increased enrollments, not the least of which is the congestion prevalent in many chemical laboratories. The situation has been particularly acute due to the inability of securing adequate teaching help, sufficient supplies of chemicals and apparatus, and to properly provide for and utilize the available laboratory space, desks, and lockers. Many institutions have assigned the same lockers and equipment to several students to be used at diierent times during the week with a prcwating of the breakage and fees involved. Such an arrangement frequently leads to dissatisfaction, inefficiency,and wanton waste. A partial solution to this problem has been provided by constructing a series of individual lockers (Figure 1) which are used by those students that could not normally be cared for by the existing laboratory facilities. A local planing mill has built substantial drawers that measure 10 in. wide, 9 in. deep, and 20 in. long, inside measurements. Each is provided with a sub- Fi-re 1. A n ksambly of Four U n i t s Providing Lockers for One stantial "lock" and l'pull." These individual drawers Hundred Students are then assembled in units of twenty-five, five by five, and placed in sturdy cabinets which can be empty wall or hall space that can be pressed into service located at convenient open spaces in the laboratory, for storage of the cabinets. Thus far the new units or adjoining hall. Care must be exercised that each have been used only for freshman inorganic sections. series of horizontal drawers is completely separated As the congestion progresses to more advanced levels, from the next higher or lower series by a solid partition similar units will be used for qualitative and organic so that the contents of one drawer cannot be reached by chemistry classes to provide for the over-flow. The removing any other drawer. The dimensions sug- cost for providing these new storage units has been gested have been found to be adequate for the usual less than $5.00 per student. This is noticeably less freshman chemistry equipment, including a ring stand, than the cost of constructing new buildings or laboratest-tube stand, funnel support, beakers, burner, flasks, tories. The results to date have been extremely gratietc. When once the usual supply of student lockers in fying, and it has been interesting to note that many the traditional desks have been exhausted, assignments instructors already prefer these lockers to the former are made from the new cabinet type lockers for new desk type because of greater flexibility in caring for sections. At the beginning of the laboratory period large chemistry sections. Thus far the freshman cheminvolved, each student removes his drawer with equip istry laboratory facilities have been more than doubled, ment from the cabinets and places the same upon the while still retaining or improving the former quality of work desk assigned for subsequent use. At the end individual laboratory work and instruction. If the of the same laboratory period, the equipment is again time should eventually come, because of decreased returned to the drawer and cabinet and locked where it enrollments, where these new locker units are no longer remains until again needed. The only limiting factors needed for student use, they might then serve as exnow are available laboratory periods per week, working tremely neat and practical storage compartments for floor and desk space for students a t any one time, and any of the stock-rooms in the building. 35
