A New Model for Transitioning Students from the Undergraduate Teaching Laboratory to the Research Laboratory. The Evolution of an Intermediate Organic Synthesis Laboratory Course

Abstract

This article outlines the recent transformation of an intermediate undergraduate organic synthesis laboratory course at the University of Wisconsin–Madison. This course has had a unique design for over 30 years, with structured experiments performed in the teaching laboratory only for the first half of the course. In the second half of the course, students are assigned to projects in graduate research laboratories. The classroom component of the course, however, did not provide students with many of the skills essential for success in the research laboratory. Over the academic years 2003–2005, we systematically changed the classroom and laboratory components of this course so that it now provides experience using modern chemistry experimental techniques and chemical information resources, instruction in scientific writing and the use of chemical drawing software, and awareness of basic scientific ethics. Here, we outline our rationale behind each course component change, describe how the changes were implemented, and discuss how the effects on student learning were assessed. Overall, these changes have been greeted with enthusiasm by our students, faculty, and staff, and we believe this course provides a curricular model exportable to other chemistry departments.

Teaching Research: A Curriculum Model That Works

“…Some provide "research-like" experience (10) or, for example, involve undergraduates in a carefully partitioned, single faculty research project as part of a course (11). In other models (and where feasible), undergraduates have been given the opportunity to participate in research at a nearby center (12) or have been paired with a graduate student working on a research project (13). Still other examples have focused strictly on organic (14) or inorganic chemistry (15).…”

Innovation in the Biochemistry/Molecular biology laboratory

“…Arkwright‐Keeler and Stapleton have collated many resources to assist faculty in designing modules or stand‐alone courses . An interesting direction taken by some institutions is to include ethics in courses that prepare students for the transition to graduate school . One area that seems to need further attention is development of assessment tools for ethics modules.…”

Developing a new interdisciplinary lab course for undergraduate and graduate students: Plant cells and proteins

“…Likewise, traditional plant biology laboratories tend to focus on whole plant physiology or genetics rather than molecular-based problems. In many curricula, implementation of research-oriented teaching leads to major revisions in existing courses [1][2][3]. With the goal of addressing this issue, a new laboratory class, which integrates current biochemistry, proteomics, microscopy, and plant biology approaches, was developed to provide students with the breadth of understanding and scientific skills to successfully apply such methods to advanced topics in plant biochemistry and molecular biology.…”