Considerations for converting a freshman majors lab into a majors/honors lab

CHED 163

Nick Flynn, Nick.Flynn@angelo.edu, Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Angelo State University, 3574 Shadyhill, San Angelo, TX 76909
Due to the fact that freshman chemistry courses serve a variety of majors, many chemistry departments have opted for designing a chemistry majors lecture and/or lab section in order to help with retention and recruitment of chemistry majors. Six years ago, our department offered a majors lab section that was converted into an honors lab section. Regular solicitation of student feedback, difficulty level of prelab questions/exercises versus desired extent of critical thinking and changes in student demographics had to be taken into consideration as the lab course has developed. The lab manual for this course has undergone three rounds of revision to date. Types of revisions, comparison to our regular section lab manual and the exclusion of originally offered labs and the resulting effect on student satisfaction with the course will be discussed.
 

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The 233rd ACS National Meeting, Chicago, IL, March 25-29, 2007