Experimenting with undergraduate practicals

In my experience the prescriptive nature of many undergraduate practicals restricts the scope for students to apply and develop their subject-specific knowledge. In addition, the nature of such practicals places limitations on their effectiveness for development of problem solving, team working and transferable skills. In recognition of this, a number of laboratory practicals in physical chemistry have been developed (some from existing traditional scripts) which feature clearly formulated and explicit objectives, but which omit detailed instructions to a greater or lesser extent. One particular aspect of these practicals is that the onus is placed on students to design a viable experimental approach in order to achieve the stated objectives and to reflect critically on their work. In this respect some of the practicals may be considered as structured mini-projects. Another implicit aspect is an attempt to encourage students to de-compartmentalise their subject knowledge (e.g. organic mechanisms in a ‘physical’ chemistry practical).The practicals have been used successfully at levels 1 and 2 during the past two years at Keele, and although the approach described has been applied to laboratory work in physical chemistry, there is no reason why it cannot be applied more generally.