The Open Laboratory-An Alternative David W. C r a n e Greece Arcadia High School. Rochester, NY 14612 Hieh school chemistrv teachers who are quick to investigate new methods such as inhividualized instru&ion and compher lab-simulations often seem to pay little attention to the organization of their students' laboratory time and to the effect of this organization upon the students' attitude toward their chemistry course. While there may he good reasons to retain the fixed, weekly laboratory periods, teachers should be aware that an alternative does exist: the open laboratory. While there are many variations of the open laboratory, the term generally impliesthat the chemistry laboratory is open to student use a t any and all times during the school day. The students do not have a fixed. scheduled laboratorv period but -~~ are allowed to come into the lahoratory to do th& assigned work whenever thev are ahle-either by a pass from a study hall or duritg their"free time."The &dents are also not required to stay in the laboratory for any predetermined period of time hut must only stay until their assigned experiment is completed satisfactorilv. The quality of their laboratory work-not the amountof time ipent~there--should be the criterion of success. The traditional. ~. structured chemistrv laboratorv usuallv meek once earh week for a fixed time period-anywhere from 45 minutes to 2 hours. A full classofstudents (-251 descend upon the lab and are usually required to stay for the full period. This immediatelv raises some fairlv obvious problems. T h e instructor is reqiired to prepare laboratory work to fill the given time regardless of what work might be most appropriate to the course a t that moment; experiments must he %addedu or "trimmed" to fit the available time. Also, the ldngth of laboratory time may not fit every student. How often do really capable students sit idle, wasting time with their laboratory work done, while others may not even complete the experiment? Neither moup gains much satisfaction from these .~ . . experiences! The open laboratory organization alleviates these problems and provides additional benefits as well. Experiments can be scheduled as they fit into the class material, even experiments ~
~
~
~~~~~~
Paper presented at CHEM ED '73. University of Waterloo. Ontario. Canada. August 24; 1973.
like the CHEM Study CopperISilver Nitrate experiment (which requires work on three separate days) can he run efficiently in a week's time whereas a single period-even of 2 hours duration-would be inadequate to complete more than the first day's work. The time-frustration factor is eliminated for the students. The capable student is allowed to leave upon the satisfactory completion of his lab work (we, a t Arcadia H.S., check their data sheet and initial it to insure that the students don't "fudge" the data for their reports). The student may, of course, stay in the laboratory and work on the write-up or even do work beyond the normal scope of the course (with the instructor's permission and supervision, of course). On the other hand, those students who require more time can stay later than the others or come back a t another time tocomplete their work; the satisfaction of really completing the experiment and understanding it is a rare treat for some students. For all students the open laboratory requires that they learn to be responsible for cumpleting their own work within time limits set by their instructor. We give weekly assignment sheets which list class assignments, that week's open lahoratory assignment, a suggested time sequence (i.e., a rough idea of the amount of time needed to complete the experiment), and a due date for the report. It seems a hit unrealistic to have students graduate from high school and suddenly be expected to have the self-discipline required in college courses when they have had little or no preparation in their high schools. Of course, a few high school students are not ready for this responsibility. We use a checklist (initialed by the lahoratory instructor), and any student who fails to do the experiments is quickly given a weekly structured laboratory period. This rarely applies to more than five students in a given year and then never for the whole school year. T h e open laboratory can he combined with an adjacent resource center so that there is a place for students to do homework, laboratory reports, or to study for tests. Then, if questions arise, a teacher or teacher aide is nearby togive assistance. We have found the resource center-open lahoratory complex to be very useful for remedial work, make-ups due to absence, and enrichment materials such as extra f'l: ms or reading material (like Sciquest!). We have also found that the open laboratory allows much
Davld W. Crane received his Bachelw's degree in Chemishy frwn Hw State University of New Y n k at Buffalo In 1967 and his Master's degree in Science Education in 1989 tom the University of
Rochester.
-. 794
F ' .'
.A4
Journal of Chemical Education
He MS DBBn teschg hlgh w b l CimniW 5 me 1968at CIeece Arcad a hogn School n Rochestor. New York. His current teaching assignments are General Science. Regents Chemistry, and College Chemistry (aftlliated with SUNY College at Brockpm).CIeeCe Arcadia High Schwl hasa st* dent population in grades 9-12 of about 1400. Around 135 students enroll each year in Regents
ChemisW. 20 in CollegeChemishy and 15 in each semester of Oeneral Chemistry. Mr. Crane is very active in science education serving as a member of the Educalion Comminee of the Rochester Section of the ACS. New Ywk State Education Department Regents Chemistry Advisory cornminee and Rochester Institute of Technology MatMcienc? A d v i w committee. This past Summer he was the Area High Schaoi Ccadinaiw !or the 6th ACS Biennial Conference on Chemistry Education. In 1979. David was selected as the recipient of the Teacher of the Year Award which was presented by the Rochester Section of the American Chemical Society.
more efficientuse of the laborator, space and eauioment. The chemistry laboratory is a very eipe&ve empiy ;oom if it is used for only a fraction of the school day. For example, Arcadia H.S. was constructed with two chemistry Laboratories, but we have found that a single open laboratory can handle the same number of students: The savings realized on only a single item-halances-can amount to hundreds of dollars! T h e onen laboratorv can also encourage flexibility in course offerings. We operate three levels of chemistry ln&uction in a single lahoratory: General Chemistrv. New York State Regents Chemistry (with the CHEM Study experiments), and College Chemistry (accredited through S U N Y College a t Rrnrkpnrt). The open laborautry allows supervised lahoratory spare to he ovailahle a t all limes. l'his IS especially valualrle in &e College Chemistry course where some of the experiments may best he done in longer, continuous periods of time (experiments in qualitative and quantitative analysis, for example). While it might be expected that there would be long empty periods of time followed by unmanageable crowds demanding to be let in, we have found that not to be thecase. Thestudents dislike crowds as much as the instructors do and ouicklv . ..nlan their work for another, less crowded time. There is, of course, a price to be paid for this program. The
teachers should, in the ideal case, have their open laboratory supervision time count as one of their classes or, a t least, substitute for such mundane chores as patrolling the cafeteria or monitoring a study hall. Also, unless there is a very large chemistry teaching staff, there must be a competent teacher aide to supervise the laboratory if the teachers are assigned classes a t the same time. We easily manage our open laboratory with two teachers and one teacher aide. The release of the teachers from other supervisory duties and the teacher aide assignment may require an enlightened attitude on the part of school administrators but we, a t Arcadia H.S., definitely feel that the advantages of the open lahoratory are worth the effort. For all of the time that teachers spend deciding which experiments should be done, it would seem reasonable to consider, as being no less important, how and when those experiments will be done. We hope that the realization that alternatives do exist will encourage teachers to take a critical look a t their laboratory program. The organization of lahoratory time can have a great influence on students' work, on their feelings of satisfaction with their chemistry course and, ultimately, on the likelihood of their taking further chemistry courses either in high school or in college.
Volume 58 Number 10 October 1981
795
