The existing experimental work in general chemistry courses meets the stringent requirements of the discipline, but often does not induce enthusiasm in students nor motivate them to further study of science. This project will reinvigorate laboratories by producing a guidebook for transforming existing laboratory experiments. The experiments are placed in a real- world context appropriate for the local community. Students become "chemist employees" in the laboratory of a local organization (industrial, business, consulting, regulatory, governmental, etc.) and work on these experiments reformulated as current projects of that organization's laboratory. Technical details remain constant, but the "scenarios" give the laboratory work new meaning. Phase I of this project has already demonstrated that the idea works to excite students about chemistry. Phase II will extend, test, and refine the approach, explore applicability to high school chemistry programs, and produce a general guide that will allow other teachers to transform their laboratory programs. A workshop for 20 participants will initiate dissemination of the project results.
