The laboratory course is critical to the learning and retention of chemical engineering knowledge. It exemplifies the principle that active involvement is demonstrably more effective than simply watching and listening. However, the traditional laboratory course suffers from several deficiencies. Laboratory exercises are often rote: students complete them mechanically, without analyzing what they are doing, why they are doing it, or what the results have to do with the theory they may have studied in other courses. Experiments are often carried out and reports generated by unstructured student teams, with one or two team members actually doing the work, all team members receiving credit for it, and no one being held individually accountable. This project demonstrates a change in both the format and the content of the chemical engineering laboratory. Student teams are required to develop their own experimental methodology and to analyze and interpret data using process simulation tools. They also carry out a project that involves formulating and demonstrating a new experiment that utilizes multistage operations. Simulation does not substitute for hands-on experimentation but supplements it, being used to model the experimental systems and then to explore what-if scenarios far more extensively than time would permit in a conventional laboratory. The objectives of the new laboratory course sequence are to (1) augment instruction in modern chemical engineering practice through the integration of experiment with process simulation; (2) increase comprehension of experimental procedures and underlying concepts through structured cooperative learning; (3) stimulate innovative thinking in a laboratory team environment by requiring the students to design a new multistage experiment; and (4) facilitate the development of written and oral communication skills through explicit training in technical report writing and oral presentations. *
