Beyond the Procedure: A Laboratory Reasoning Framework for Undergraduate Chemistry Laboratories

This preprint presents the Laboratory Reasoning Framework (LRF), a practice-oriented and literature-informed conceptual framework for undergraduate chemistry laboratory instruction. The framework distinguishes experimental practice from chemical reasoning and emphasizes the connections among laboratory actions, observations and measurements, chemical representations, conceptual models, reasoning and inference, and scientific explanation. Illustrative examples from chemical equilibrium, calorimetry, and acid–base titration demonstrate how the framework can be used to identify reasoning gaps that may remain hidden when students successfully complete laboratory procedures. The LRF is intended as a practical diagnostic and instructional framework rather than a model of cognition or a validated assessment instrument. The manuscript discusses implications for laboratory teaching and outlines directions for future empirical evaluation.