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Learning Instrumentation without Instruments More sophisticated computer simulations, nontraditional educational materials, and part-time work-study opportunities Developments in instrumentation are fueled primarily by the needs of industry, which wants faster, more powerful, and more highly automated instruments that conserve the very expensive time of scientific personnel. For colleges and universities, however, the fast pace of instrument development poses a dilemma, since laboratory teaching instruments rapidly become obsolete, and the amount of money available for replacing obsolete instrumentation has dwindled. T. C. O'Haver, a professor of chemistry at the University of Maryland, a large state-supported university, explains that schools like Maryland are
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1326 A · ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY, VOL. 55, NO. 13, NOVEMBER 1983
"quite huge and you'd think we'd be in great shape. But in fact the money for undergraduate teaching is surprisingly limited." In a talk at a Division of Chemical Education symposium entitled A Reexamination of the Undergraduate Instrumental Analysis Curriculum at this fall's ACS National meeting, O'Haver related some of his ideas on how to teach instrumental analysis in the absence of state-of-theart analytical instruments. "Let's assume," said O'Haver, "that we get to the point where we have to admit that the funds to keep our instruments up-to-date are simply not available. We're not going to give up teaching instrumental analysis. We'll still do that with the best instruments we can manage to dredge up. But how can we fill in the gaps so we don't shortchange students in their exposure to more exotic techniques?" One way to fill out a course in instrumental analysis, according to O'Haver, is to give students access to nontraditional educational materials. For instance, undergraduates who can make a day trip to an analytical meeting such as the Pittsburgh Conference can benefit from exposure to demonstrations of the latest in instrumentation. The exhibits, tutorials, slide shows, videotapes, and other presentations sponsored by instrument manufacturers at a meeting like this can be very valuable. "We can also utilize our analytical journals," O'Haver said. "I'm not talking particularly about the research articles. They're fine, of course, but undergraduate students can hardly expect to be able to read many of them knowledgeably. "I'm talking about, for example, all the shiny pages in the beginning of the ACS journal ANALYTICAL CHEMISTRY. The A-page articles are generally quite useful, but the advertisements are also a terrific source of information. As far as I'm concerned, it would be quite valuable for students to be assigned to sit down and read ads. An hour spent reading ads can familiarize
