FUTURE STUDENTS
ADFA
First Year Laboratory Science at the School of Chemistry
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Typical of any science-based subject, first year undergraduate chemistry at UNSW@ADFA requires a laboratory component to the course. Traditionally, students have not found this to be a particularly productive, enjoyable or relevant part of their course. This new course has been developed to more actively engage students with hands-on activities and the concepts that underlie those activities. Our aims are for students to enjoy their learning experience, to see the relevance of chemistry in everyday life, and understand the basis of chemical interactions. Additionally, a new component to the course is a science writing skills and science ethics workshop where students work through real world science problems.
The new laboratory course has been based on a traditionally presented chemistry laboratory course. However, a major change was the development of an innovative laboratory manual format to stimulate active student learning.
The new manual includes:
The new laboratory course has been based on a traditionally presented chemistry laboratory course. However, a major change was the development of an innovative laboratory manual format to stimulate active student learning.
The new manual includes:
- Clear learning objectives (both chemical and generic)
- Icons that flag particular skills (such as technical writing, teamwork, calculations, fine motor skills) of warnings (OH&S)
- Questions that probe basic understandings of the experiment in a clear, but not disruptive, format
Student responses to the new laboratory course are overwhelmingly positive with markedly increased student performance and satisfaction.
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