The Organic Lab: A Status Quo Report and a Two-Semesters-in-One Approach

Two separate, but related, investigations of undergraduate organic chemistry laboratories are reported. First, the results of survey data relating to how various institutions organize and teach these labs are described. Included are the timing of lab relative to lecture, the amount of time spent in laboratories and/or recitations, the numbers of students in lab sections, the scales and types of experimental procedures pursued, and the textbooks in use. Second, a comparison of two different approaches to the timing of lab relative to lecture that are currently in use at Truman State University is reported. Students enrolled in the "Superlab", a single two-credit-hour lab, performed analogously to those enrolled in the two one-credit-hour labs.