Organic lab as a research experience: Multitasking

Authentic Learning Environment in Analytical Chemistry Using Cooperative Methods and Open-Ended Laboratories in Large Lecture Courses

“…In addition, it is argued that course reform should be linked to authentic student achievement, so that students can actively experience the feelings of practicing professionals (6). Course experiments where such changes have been introduced have proven successful but the number of examples of such changes is limited in the higher level courses or courses with large enrollments (7)(8)(9)(10)(11).…”

Synthesis of a 7-Oxanorbornene Monomer: A Two-Step Sequence Preparation for the Organic Laboratory

“…The students who needed to recrystallize their final product generally obtained yields at the lower end of the range. 6,7 Two students failed to isolate any product from their recrystallization.…”

“…Although this is a common undergraduate organic laboratory experiment, our reaction conditions differ from those presented in most laboratory manuals (5). Our procedure has the advantage that it is well suited to the "multitasking" system under which our laboratory is run (6 ). Students typically work on several experiments simultaneously, in a manner more similar to that in which chemical research is actually done.…”

Organic Chemistry Lab as a Research Experience

“…This debate has centered around how to avoid giving students a simple task to complete, giving them instead an experiment to perform. Various proposals have included using problem-solving approaches (2), puzzles (3), and most recently, multitasking (4). While all these methods have benefits, they also all suffer from the fact that every student is doing essentially the same tasks and employing minimal creativity.…”