Improved curriculum for preparing chemical technicians: Laboratory Applications courses for the development of technical and non-technical skills

TECH 4

Todd Pagano, tepnts@rit.edu, Laboratory Science Technology program, Rochester Institute of Technology/ National Technical Institute for the Deaf, 52 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623 and L. K. Quinsland, Science & Mathematics, Rochester Institute of Technology/ National Technical Institute for the Deaf, 52 Lomb Memorial Drive, Rochester, NY 14623.
With the goal of preparing our students for roles as competent chemical technicians, we apply a novel approach to teaching and assessing certain laboratory concepts and techniques. Though we take pride in our innovations to traditional technical courses (Instrumental Analysis, Analytical Chemistry, etc.), we also place emphasis in our unique six part Laboratory Applications series of courses. These courses focus on team work, technical writing, ethics, safety, quality control, information sources, presentations, and professional interactions; while reinforcing technical information. The development and management of laboratory portfolios are thread through the series of courses. Students work through job related simulations, case studies, and projects. A pedagogical advantage of this student-centered and cooperative approach transfers much of the responsibility of learning to the student by allowing them to monitor their own learning. Peer-guided learning also occurs as the students work together as an interactive team with the common goal of completion of the assigned tasks. A focal point of the process is the opportunity for multiple passes on a skill/topic, a concept that we call the “spiral curriculum”.
 

General Papers
1:30 PM-5:55 PM, Monday, 11 September 2006 S.F. Downtown Courtyard by Marriott -- Soma 3, Oral

Division of Chemical Technicians

The 232nd ACS National Meeting, San Francisco, CA, September 10-14, 2006