| Title | Inquiry Based Laboratory Instruction in the First Year General Chemistry Course |
|---|---|
| Faculty/College/Unit | Science |
| Status | Completed |
| Duration | 2 Year |
| Initiation | 04/01/2000 |
| Completion | 03/31/2002 |
| Funding Details | |
| Year 1: Project Year | Year 1 |
| Year 1: Funding Year | 2000/2001 |
| Year 1: Project Type | Small TLEF |
| Year 1: Principal Investigator | Sophia Nussbaum |
| Year 1: Funded Amount | 22,800 |
| Year 1: Team Members | Sophia Nussbaum, Chemistry, Faculty of Science |
| Year 1: Summary | The goal of this project is to create a guided inquiry-based laboratory program in the first-year general chemistry courses at UBC (Chemistry 121, 122 and 151). The proposed program will gradually transform the present, essentially traditional, approach to the laboratory instruction into a discovery format. The new program will consist of guided inquiry experiments, aimed to develop students’ laboratory skills, and research projects that will utilize these skills and increase students’ expertise in the basic laboratory methods. At the same time will develop the awareness and understanding of the scientific process. The research projects will be enriched by the library research component and the WebCT will be used as a tool to facilitate communication between students and teaching assistants as well as one of the assessment tools. This project will benefit from the cooperation with the ICLI group of Canadian and American educators who work together on the development of the ICLI-MicroLab family of instruments that will offer software and hardware acquisition tools to engage college students in research-based/inquiry-based learning in the laboratory. Funding is requested to support creation, classroom testing and evaluation of the research projects, development of library research modules, as well as participation in the efforts of the ICLI group. Also, funding is requested to partially cover he expense of participation in the 16th International Conference on Chemical Education to gain insight into the worldwide trends in the laboratory instruction. |
| Year 2: Project Year | Year 2 |
| Year 2: Funding Year | 2001/2002 |
| Year 2: Project Type | Small TLEF |
| Year 2: Principal Investigator | Sophia Nussbaum |
| Year 2: Funded Amount | 36,050 |
| Year 2: Team Members | Sophia Nussbaum, Chemistry, Faculty of Science |
| Year 2: Summary | The goal of this project is to create a guided inquiry based laboratory program in the first-year general chemistry courses at UBC (Chemistry 121, 122 and 154). The proposed program will gradually transform the present, essentially traditional, approach to the laboratory instruction into a discovery format. The new program will consist of guided inquiry experiments, aimed to develop students' laboratory skills, and research projects that will utilise these skills and increase students' expertise in the basic laboratory methods. At the same time they will develop the awareness and understanding of the scientific process. The research projects will be enriched by the library research component and WebCT will be used as a tool to facilitate communication between students and teaching assistants as well as one of the assessment tools. This project will benefit from the co-operation with the ICU group of Canadian and American educators who work together on the development of the ICLI-Microlab family of instruments that wilt offer software and hardware acquisition tools to engage college students in research-based I inquiry based learning in the laboratory. Funding is requested to support the creation, classroom testing and evaluation of the guided inquiry experiments, continued development of library research modules, assessment and revision of the developed research projects, as well as participation in the efforts of the ICLI group. |