9452022 Kerner The primary goal of our introductory chemistry laboratory is to allow the students to experience how chemical principles are derived from data and engage the students in scientific processes and ways of thinking. Our approach has been to develop "discovery" based experiments in which students explore a wide range of parameter space with little advance guidance from the instructor as to the expected outcome. Our emphasis is on qualitative reasoning, which we have found is particularly fostered when students work in collaborative groups with data management handled by computer. Different groups of students investigate the same properties (e.g., reactivity, solubility, etc) for a different and specific set of reagents. The discovery of trends is facilitated by presenting students with multi-instances of the same phenomenon. A networked computer system (CoLABnet) pools and summarizes the largely qualitative data for all of the varying group investigated reagents. Student groups are assigned specific questions to answer which require them to utilize and/or organize the summarized data using commercial graphing software. Groups present their findings during post-lab discussion. Preliminary tests have shown that computer can significantly improve the effectiveness of the course. Computer production of a class data base shifts the focus from data collation and organization to data analysis and interpretation. The use of computers permits data pooling on a scale that would be otherwise impossible. The model emphasizes the uncertainty inherent in science and the importance of statistical variance. The present computers are limited to several rooms and do not allow multi- tasking (students can either enter data to the network or plot data using commercial software, but not both). Funds are requested to purchase computers capable of multi-tasking for all of the laboratory rooms.
