Tomlinson Teaching Lecture: Anne McNeil - Making Large Undergraduate Laboratory Courses More Like Research
Abstract:
Laboratory courses introduce students to the discipline鈥檚 tools, concepts, and ways of thinking through experimentation. There has been a recent shift away from the traditional expository or recipe-based experiments toward inquiry-, discovery-, or problem-based experiments. Similarly, over the last five years, we have completely re-hauled our first-semester undergraduate laboratory course to be more inquiry-driven, informed by the meaningful learning framework, wherein new concepts deliberately build on previously learned concepts to help students connect the new information with their previous knowledge. To adapt meaningful learning for a laboratory context, we introduced the 鈥渓earn, practice, apply鈥 approach, wherein students first learn a concept or technique, then practice that technique in a different context, and then apply the technique in an organic reaction. This talk will discuss how we applied this approach to teach thin-layer chromatography, liquid-liquid extractions, and green chemistry, each through three, 3-week long modules. Last, we will discuss our assessment metrics, including how this new course impacted student learning and student confidence in the lab.
Bio:
Prof. Anne McNeil is the Arthur F. Thurnau Professor of Chemistry and Macromolecular Science and Engineering, as well as an HHMI Professor, at the University of Michigan. Her research spans organometallic catalysis, redox active small molecules, sustainable and degradable polymers. She has won numerous awards for excellence in both teaching and research. Her most recent awards are being inducted as a Fellow into the AAAS and a Guggenheim Fellowship.