Chemistry in a Large, Multidisciplinary Laboratory Wesley E. Lingren and Robert C. Hughson Seattle Pacific University. Seattle, WA 98119 The constant inflationary pressure on building costs has almost taken the option of a new, conventional science building away from many private colleges and universities. This article describes an extraordinary university science facility that was built for approximately 70% of the capital costs of a conventional science building. The building serves seven disciplines on a regular basis: biology, chemistry, comDuter science. enzineerine science. mathematics... ~hvsics. . . and Lxperimental psychology. ~ e a t t l ePacific Cniversity has an underrraduate cnrollmrnt of 2400. Thrre are anoroximatclv 350 &dents that have declared a major in onk of the scfences. The most unusual aspect of the building is a single, large laboratory (240 ft X 55 ft) which has taken the place of the many highly specific laboratories usually found in more traditional buildings (see the figure). The surrounding service areas occupy an additional 17,000 sq ft. This laboratory accounted for a large portion of the savingsin the initial building costs by eliminating duplication, and it continues to contribute t o savings by requiring less in the way of equipment and supplies than comparable conventionallabor$ories. The first large, multidi~iciplinarylahoratory designed for colleee-levelteachine and research was built at Saint Andrew ~resibyterianColle& Laurinburg, North Carolina (1,2,3,4, 5.6). The laboratorv described here is similar to the Saint ~ n d r e w sfacility. ath her innovative concepts in lahoratory design have been described by Mellon (7,8)and others (9,1U, 11). Operating the Laboratory The large multidisciplinary laboratory is designed to operate on an open basis. This means that most students may come and do their experimental work a t a time that suits them. Instructors assign a time span for the completion of the experimental work. Sections do not need to meet as groups in the laboratory on a regular basis. Prelaboratory instructions and demonstrations of equipment or new techniques are given to the class in the lecture room at a regularly assigned period. The students then go to the laboratory a t their own convenience. A week is usually given for a typical chemistry exercise. The laboratory is open 13 hrs Monday-Thursday, open 8 hrs on Friday and Saturday, and closed on Sunday.
1018
Journal of Chemical Education
The students tend to spread the time they spend in the laboratory over the available hours. At the most there might be 30 chemistry students in the laboratory a t one time. The average is around seven. The count includes students in all chemistry courses being taught in a given quarter. There would also normally be several students from other disciplines doing their laboratory work a t the same time. One cost benefit of spreading out the student work hours is that duplication of high-cost instrumentation is not necessary. For instance, the open laboratory can operate effectively with one spectrophotometer where the normal timelimited laboratory section doing the same experiment might require two or three. AU chemistry students, new to the university, must take and pass a laboratory skills test before they are allowed to work in the facility. Students must demonstrate correct technioue in: (1) ,,sing hoth analytical and triple beam balancvs, (2) "se of volumetricglassware, (3) transfer ofsolidsand li~uids.(4) filtering, (5) giass manipulation, and (6) selected safety pro: cedures. Chemistry faculty members are assigned laboratory supervising responsibilities of between 6 and 12 hrs per week. The faculty member is expected to be a resource person for all of the chemistry being done during their shift, not just for the courses he or she is teaching that term. The faculty member is expected to circulate and be available to all students. Faculty laboratory schedules are widely publicized, and students who wish to do an experiment with their instructor nearby may choose to come during those hours. The faculty laboratory manager and his graduate assistant, both proficient in chemistrv, are also resource ~eoole.Bioloev and physics faculty members are frequently avail&le as war, and their chemistry backgrounds are usually sufficient to answer all but the most teihnical questions. There is also a t least one student teaching assistant on duty. Finally, a large amount of peer teaching occurs. Freshmen will often approach an organic student for help, or the upper division students simply volunteer information since they have done most of the lower division experiments. The physical arrangement of the tables was set up to stimulate peer interaction, and it works very well. Biologists often discover that chemists do chromatography too.
Facultv members soon recoenize the need for clearlv written experimental procedures. ~ 6 is as primary consideiation in t h e choice of a laboratory manual. Even so, many lahoratory manuals are vague or incomplete at critical steps; therefore, t h e facultv oerson often must orovide a supplement. This usually mkais writing materiaithat fits t h e big laboratory situation. This brief outline of the laboratory operational concept has been followed, more or less, by all the disciplines. Of course there are special problems in each, hut the huilding is flexible enough to accommodate them all. There is an isolated microbiology preparation area and a special darkroom for optics work. Some professors still prefer to call their laboratory sections together a t set times. isolate a oortion of the laree l&oratory.and carry on in the conventional way. Even thouah this is contrarv to the basic idea ofthe multidisriolinaw lahoratory, the space and arrangements allow bothmethods to work side bv side. The onlv rule is that no class can monopolize, hy design, a large number of tables for a long period of time. On the other hand, the size of the laboratory and the flexihle operating system allow two or three tables to be reserved for special oroiects for extended periods of time, such as a term. Laboratory Features There are several features of the lahoratory, in addition to the operating philosophy, which are out of the ordinary. (1) Its sheer size (240 ft X 55 ft). Its length is over threefourths that of a football field. This can create logistics problems for the .owrlv.organized " student. It is a lone" walk to the stockroom dwr from either end of the laboratory. (2) Each of the 42 utility turrets, which serve as centers for the work table arrangements, can be completely disconnected and removed in five minutes. There are 126 two-person laboratory tables. New configurations of furniture or other uses of the space are easy to create. (3) A self-service, supermarket-likedrawer and shelf dispensing wall reolaees ~. the individual student locker. It contains all the commun items of ~quipm~nl n
