DONNABOGNER
Wichita State University Wichita, KS 67208
The Corporation Lab How To Do a Lab with 32 Students in A.P. Chemistry Otto Phanstlel Stanton Wlege Reparatory School 1149 West 13th Street FL 32209 Jack~~nville. Two major problems face the A.P. chemistry teacher. The first is how t o make the students' lab experience relevant to their lives. The second is how to do more difficult lahs safely when faced with an overcrowded classroom and still demand oualitv - -~, ~ work from the students. A11 too often we find students doing lahs by the numbers: step 1,step 2, etc. It is as if the lab experiment itself were disconnected from class work and certainly had no meaning in terms of the real world. Actual thinking about the lab is a very rare phenomenon.
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The Phlloeo~hy . . The three-year Laboratory Leadership Program at Berkeley helped me realize that laboratory work can do much more than pass on subject matter. It is the one tool we can use to affect students' personal growfh and supply additional motivation. A lab is an arena in which to imwrove students' selfconfidence, to show them the value 0; teamwork, and to relate the experience to some authentic social concern. Labs can he the vehicle to get the student more involved, to imnrove their critical thinkine skills, and to allow them to express their creativity. c a n w e accomplish all this with 32 students doina traditional laboratory ex~eriments?I do not think we nee; different experiments; we just need a new context for doing the experiments. The Context T h e idea for the corporation lab originated a t the Tenth Division of Chemical Education Biennial Conference-Summer '88 a t Purdue University. A paper by John P. Walters from St. Olaf College in Montana discussed a technique he used with his analytical college chemistry class in which he organized the students into companies and presented them with a wrohlem to resolve. The next step was to translate this methodology to the high school level utilizingone or more of our existing lab procedures. I n an attempt to make the lab relevant to the corporate world the students will one day join and to encourage student creativity, I divided my class of 32 into eight teams. Each group then designated people as a manager, a chemist, an eneineerlcomnuter exnert. and a wublic relations officer. -~~ with cfear tasks, the students received the As working following handout of job descriptions.
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Manager-will be resnonrihle - ~ .-~~~~~ for: Organizing and writing the final report. Organizing his or her workers as a productive work force. Making arrangements for consultant and payment of consultant fees. Communicating with managers of other companies only in writing. Insuring the safety of their employees and any visitors to the company. Traveling to the central office far meeting with executive president. Receiving communications from central office and keeping his or her employees informed.
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Chemist-will he responsible for: Deciding on and making up all solutions. Planninz and earefullv documentine all exuerimentation. ~.~ Communicating with engineer concerning equipment needs. Keeping all personnel in company rnfurvned as tu what teats are being performed. Insuring the safety of any employee or visitor to the comhny. Calling an American Chemical Society meeting for chemists of different companies by posting meeting time. Recording all data and observations in dated log with signed, handwritten pages in ink. EngineerlComputer-will he responsible for: Finding and building any apparatus the chemist needs for his or her experiments. Taking the data and observations made by the chemist and reorganizing into a readable format on the computer. Insuring the safety of any employee or visitor. Calling an American Chemical Engineering Society meeting for engineers of different companies by posting meeting time on hoard. .~Determining whet booka or magazines will be needed for vital information and documentation. Public Relations-will be responsible for: Insuring the safety of all employees and visitors. Findine: any literature the engineer or chemist or manager may needy Making the final report interestidg by preparing pictures or artforms that will help the readability of the final report. Physically putting together final report in plastic folder for delivery to central office. Communieating freely with other companies but never sharing private information with other companies. Having final say about name of company and any logo. Keeping up the morale of the employees and manager. Answering all environmental, legal, and governmental controversies. ~~
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T h e class's reaction was a mixture of skepticism and interest. However.inless than 15 min mvclassof 32 APchemistrv students wa$ organized into eight-different companies, the roles of manager, chemist, engineerlcomputer, and public relations officer were established, and each group came up with a company name, e.g., ACE Chemicals, Daughters of Einstein, RIML Inaustries. Presenting the Problem The next step was to send each manager the following letter stating the problem before them. September 21,1988 A,
(Address) -(City),"(State)?Zip) -(Salutation): Your company has been chosen to help determine the feasibility of purchasing old dimes for the purpose of extracting the silver and then selling the silver on the open market at a profit. Your complete and extensive report along with the chemist's documented log will be needed by October 17,1988. To assist you in your endeavor, our research department hss located nn important experiment co arcomplrsh this task. (Copies of Experiment No. 2 "'l'h~Chemical Separation of a Mixture" Chwmeol Prtncioles in the Labwxor!. b\, . Harm, . W. Frantz and Lloyd E. ~ s l were k included.) Volume 68
Number 1 January 1991
55
Apparently you will need to make up the following solutions: 6 M HNO1, 3 M H2S01. 0.1 M CU(NOI)P,0.1 M AgNOs, 0.1 M Zn(NOh, 6 M HC1,6 M NHIOH. Please see to it that these solutions are prepared prior to our sending the coins to he tested. Please note: Goggles and aprons must be worn at all times when in any part of the laboratory. Remember the motto of our central office is: safety first. A single grade will he given to eaeh company. The manager will meet with the Corporate President and that evaluation will be communicated to the employees via the manager. During the month, letters of reprimand or praise will be sent to eomoanv msnaeer.. and these will be tallied and will be ineludthe ~~~ed as part oi the final grade. At that time, the manager will pivea full repon on each of hisor her employees, and. because of the unusual nature of this erperiment, the employees will report on the manager. Consultations will he possible upon written requ~stsand can be rehedulrd anytime during- period three, pemd four lunch, and after school hours. Good luck. I am eager to receive your finished report. Sincerely, ~
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Otto Phanstiel Central Office Doing the Job During the first actual lab period the chemists and engineers were calculatine the amount of stockchemicals needed make up 100 m L z e a c h solution. The managers and the public relations people met with the central office to discuss the possibility that the assigned task (dissolving an old U.S. dime) may be illegal. The public relations officer was to go to the library and determine whether this was true. The manager was told that by tomorrow helshe had to write to the central office and decide on behalf of his or her company whether to continue the experiment. The rest of the period was spent with the chemists and engineers demonstratine how to transfer stock chemicals to --mike up the needed so1;tions. The followine dav several things happened at once. All the public relationsofficers found out th*
