This two-year project describes a model for a General Chemistry Laboratory for science and engineering majors that enables students to learn how to function as practicing scientists and engineers. They will work in teams on interdisciplinary, open-ended, inquiry-based projects reflecting current technical challenges in the disciplines representing their career goals. Faculty from biochemistry, chemistry, and various engineering disciplines helped develop the projects and will work with students as instructors and consultants. Students will communicate results via scientific papers peer-reviewed by other students and via oral poster presentations. A Web Journal of General Chemistry will be created in which students can report their findings to a national audience. As they work with students, collaborating faculty will be challenged to explore student-centered pedagogy through which students formulate the investigative questions themselves. Assessment of student learning will be based in part on the written scientific papers and oral poster sessions. An Advisory Committee, consisting of faculty members from chemistry and engineering at other academic institutions, high-school teachers, and industrial scientists, will meet biannually to help evaluate student and faculty progress. Formative and summative evaluations will be performed by a faculty member in the education department using pre- and post-test of science process skills and understanding of science, and interviews with students and faculty about their learning experiences. Students will be surveyed periodically for up-to five years after completing the course. Dissemination routes include the student Web Journal, beta-test sites at St. Anselm and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, national meeting presentations, commercial publication of the companion/manual and publication in prominent journals.
