In response to local needs, Edmonds Community College proposes a 42-month curriculum development/pilot project impacting ca 250 participants. It 1) reconfigure the 12.5-credit laboratories for general and organic chemistry as project-based modules and 2) creates a new ChemCore curriculum, part of a combined Associate of Technical Arts/Associate of Arts and Sciences Laboratory Technician program. Developed in close cooperation with government and industry through an advisory board, ChemCore would integrate the lab chemistry with 5 new applied academics courses, 25 credits in all: instrumental analysis, information technology, management, and tech writing/applied communications (2). The project would also introduce a new laboratory setting simulating the tasks, customer requests, on-the-job skills training, and working conditions of a commercial laboratory performing chemical analyses; create a series of increasingly sophisticated and open-ended requests for services to replace traditional laboratory exercises; and use outside professionals offering demonstrations and related instruction. The project targets high school recruits, pre-professional science and engineering, Work Force Training, and other vocational students, with special efforts to enroll women and students of color. Its principal goals and objectives are to 1) develop an up-to-date, interdisciplinary, transferable laboratory curriculum at EdCC; 2) attract additional chemistry students, especially from underrepresented populations, through the appeal of applied chemistry in real-world situations; 3) prepare students in a 2-year program with the interdisciplinary knowledge, skills, and experience required for full-time employment as lab technicians and/or part-time jobs while they pursue further study; and 4) if the project is successful, submit ChemCore and the technician program design to the NSF-funded Northwest Center for Emerging Technologies for approval as a model Associated of Advanced Technology degree program.
