An ion chromatography system is being used to introduce experimental modules involving water quality measurements into the laboratory component of first-year General Chemistry, Fundamentals of Chemistry, Quantitative Analysis, and Environmental Chemistry. These applications are relevant to our undergraduate students since they involve direct measurements of how human activities affect the natural environment. First-year students are being introduced to a laboratory module whose theme is the analysis of natural surface water systems and they are using this module to develop analytical skills in the laboratory. Upper-class students are gaining knowledge of and experience with an important new analytical instrument which is widely used in industry, research, and government laboratories. Students also are being tested on their ability to apply basic chemical principles to complex systems, and their ability to process and interpret data. Use of the ion chromatography system, fully capable of analyzing cations and anions in a variety of water samples, is enhancing the student laboratory experience since it supersedes wet chemical methods which are both labor intensive and time consuming. The impact that these modules have on our laboratory curriculum is being assessed by comparing the students' motivation and learning in such experiments with the learning which results from more traditional experiments.
