MAKING LABORATORY WORK IN GENERAL CHEMISTRY EFFECTIVE R. K. CARLETON, SFIURTLEPF COLLEGE, ALTON, ILLINOIS There have appeared in the columns of the JOURNAL OF CHEMICAL EDUCATION, from time to time, various articles lamenting the pitiably small accomplishments of laboratory work in general chemistry courses, particularly those given in the smaller colleges. I t seems to be the almost universal consensus of opinion that the methods in use today do not secure the most efficient work on the part of either student or instructor. While a good deal of attention has been paid to developing the teaching in the classroom, the methods of conducting laboratory work have remained pretty much the same. Students are usually requested to supply themselves with a "suitable notebook" at the beginning of the college year, which they then proceed to fill with descriptions of experiments performed and which mean very little to any of the students unless they are deeply interested in the study of chemistry. An article recently printed in THIS JOURNAL (1) brings out a number of points that warrant further discussion. Dr. Long is to be complimented for breaking away from the time-honored procedure of simply keeping a notebook. If students are listless and unconcerned about the kind of work they do, isn't it true that we are inclined to place the burden of blame on them without searching farther for the real cause? No doubt there are certain conditions that are responsible for poor laboratory work on the part of first-year chemistry students. A student who has had a year of the subject in high school often feels that if he takes a year of general chemistry in college, he is simply repeating something with which he is already familiar, so "why study"? "Or why work either"? Then, too, thelaboratory classes are usually small and the spirit of competition is not likely to be as keen as in larger units. Furthermore, a student does not get much of a " k i c k out of doing a large number of experiments and writing them up in a notebook which he knows will be looked at infrequently. After he has performed the 6rst half dozen experiments and has recorded them, his enthusiasm dies and the keeping of a notebook throughout the remainder of the year becomes pretty much of a mechanical process. Only those "good" students who are vitally interested in the subject will rise above that condition. More deep-seated, however, than any of the aforementioned conditions is a lack of a sense of responsibility, characteristic of the majority of pupils entering college direct from high school. This is not to be wondered a t as young pupils have had little experience that would tend to make them realize the necessity of assuming responsibility. Then, too, there is very little in the high-school course which requires students to develop this sense to any great degree. There is little doubt if a student hastens the 2913
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process of weighing by picking up analytical weights with his fingers instead of with tweezers, or carelessly spills acid on a desk, or needlessly breaks apparatus, it is because he knows the institution pays the bills, and consequently gives little thought to such seeming trifles. Students can be trained, however, within a period of one year to feel some responsibility in the matter of laboratory work. I n an attempt to free the laboratory work in first-year chemistry at Shurtleff College from some of these difficulties, a method was developed three years ago which has proved most satisfactory. At the opening of the college year in September, each student obtains from the College Book Store an experiment report pad, devised especially for chemistry work. These pads contain fifty lined sheets, the size of typing paper, perforated a t the top so they can be torn out and showing the exact form in which an experiment should be written. Space is provided for a sketch of the apparatus used. At the lower right-hand corner of each sheet is a space for the instructor's signature and also for the word "accepted" to be stamped. When a student has performed an experiment he writes it up on one of these sheets in the laboratory, signs it, and deposits it in a locked box at one end of the laboratory. At the close of that period, the instructor removes all the papers that have been deposited and corrects them, stamping those that are satisfactory and placing them in an open box in the hall outside the laboratory where the students may secure them a t their leisure. Those papers that are accepted are kept by each individual student in a folder until after the end of the semester. Those that are not correctly written, must be repeated, rewritten, and handed in again. Only those experiments that are accepted give the student credit for laboratory work. I n this way, the responsibility for doing the experiment correctly and reporting it satisfactorily, as well as keeping the sheets after they have been corrected rests entirely with the student. At the end of the semester the number of "accepted experiment sheets in each folder is determined and credit for laboratory work given each student on that basis as well as on laboratory manipulation and technic. The use of this system has shown that a sense of responsibility can be created among first-year students that cannot be accomplished with the ordinary notebook. There is no trouble in maintaining a student's enthusiasm for the work throughout the year. Furthermore, any mistakes appearing in the writeup of an experiment can be checked immediately after the experiment has been performed and while the work is fresh in the mind of the student. There is a certain value in training a pupil to report laboratory work in an acceptable form. Certain it is that when one enters industrial chemistry, one will sooner or later have to write a report of one kind or another. Moreover, the year of general chemistry ought to be preparatory to further work in qualitative and quantitative analysis.
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These latter courses cannot be properly taught without an accurate report being kept of the analyses performed in the laboratory. m e r e will a student be trained to report laboratory procedures accurately and carefully, if not in the general chemistry course? Literature Cited 7, 16424 (1) LONG.H. J.. "Tradition versus Effectivenes~,"J. CHEM.EOUC., (July. 1930).
