Introductory Information for Inquiry Based Team Labs in CHEM 213*

The experiments in this lab have been chosen to reflect and build upon the contents of the course and to introduce you to laboratory techniques that that can be useful to you in many ways as a future scientific professional.  A great deal of information about the world around you can be obtained with simple chemical equipment and procedures.  Scientists sometimes use well-established procedures to solve problems.  Frequently, however, they must creatively design their own solutions, adapting techniques and ideas to their specific problem.  To this end, some labs in this course will provide you with detailed instructions whereas other inquiry-based labs will allow you to freely use your creativity to “design” experiments to solve the posed problems.  Keep in mind that chemists often learned their skills and achieved their expertise through trial, error, creativity, serendipity, and knowledge of chemical behavior.  Through your experiences in this laboratory, you will learn new laboratory techniques and critical problem-solving skills.  Inquiry-based labs also coincide directly with the goals of this university.  Winona State University is dedicated to the Seven Principle for Good Practice in Undergraduate Education: 1) student-faculty contact, 2) cooperation among students, 3) active learning, 4) prompt feedback, 5) time on task, 6) high expectations, and 7) respect for diverse talents and ways of learning.  These labs are a way to apply all seven principles while taking an introductory course in a relatively large lecture setting.  In general, the following are the learning objectives for these labs:

Inquiry Based Team Labs Objectives:

• Help you learn chemistry by becoming actively involved in course material.
• Help you to develop critical thinking and problem solving skills.
• Help you build a variety of experimental skills including laboratory notebook and report writing.
• Help you learn how to be an effective group member and to respect diverse talents and ideas.
• Help you learn how chemistry affects the world around you.
• Provide you with an opportunity to use your creativity and diverse knowledge in solving problems.

In modern laboratories, individuals are always part of a team with each team member having different responsibilities.  In this course all labs will be done in teams of two with one lab report and one group grade being reported for each team.  Below are some things to consider to make your team successful.

Principles to follow for successful team activities:

• I am critical of ideas, not people.  I challenge and refute the ideas, but I do not indicate that I personally reject them.
• I focus on coming to the best decision possible, not on winning.
• I encourage everyone to participate.
• I listen to everyone's ideas even if I don't agree.
• I restate what someone has said if it is not clear to me.
• I first bring out all ideas and facts supporting all sides, and then I try to put them together in a way that makes sense.
• I try to understand all sides of the issue.
• I change my mind when the evidence clearly indicates that I should do so.

You will have a chance to assess your team members’ contributions at the end of each lab using the team contribution forms.

Components of the Lab Report

Before the lab:  Each lab requires a pre-lab completed prior to entering the lab.  Usually this will consist of the experiment title, purpose of the experiment, basic experimental steps to be employed, and safety information on any chemicals that will be used and, in some cases, answers to any pre-lab questions.  This should be completed in your notebook.  The yellow page will be turned in at the beginning of class.

Title:  The title should contain information about the conclusion of your findings and be descriptive.

Background information:  Two to three paragraphs of information about the background concepts used in the experiment.  Each experiment will specify the exact topic.  This will give some context for the lab and its usefulness in the greater world.  This section should contain references cite them where used in parentheses with the author and year (Smith, 2003) and give the full citation at the end of the lab.  This section will be graded as to the number and quality of the references.

Synopsis of how data was obtained:  Here outline the procedures used to obtain the data include brand name and model of equipment where applicable. 

Results and supporting information:  In this section the results obtained and supporting statistics should be given.  The information used to support any claim made should be included here as well.  This will include answers to any questions asked in the text of the lab itself.  This section will also include applicable graphs.  Potential errors and limitations of your conclusions should be included in this section as well. Suggest potential consequences of those errors as they relate to your data and results, e.g. The experimental yield was low due to loss of material when the beaker overflowed.  Pay close attentions to both random and systematic errors that may have occurred.  Remember that there are often inherent assumptions that simplify procedures but frequently lead to systematic errors.  Undefined “human error” or “calculation errors” are not acceptable errors.  In some instances, you will be able to compare your experimental values to literature values.  When literature values are given, consider the percent error.  Why is your result high or low?

Conclusion:  This can be a one to two sentence synopsis because all of the supporting information will have already been covered.

References:  Include all references used in preparation of your report at the end of the report.

Supplementary information:  Include the yellow sheets from your lab notebook.  Neatly written calculation pages may also be included with the supplementary information.  Graphs and tables should be included in the body of your report where they are referred to.  It is imperative that any information included in the supplementary information be clearly referenced with page numbers in the main body of the text if you want it to be graded otherwise no credit will be given for that work!

Grading of Labs

The labs will be graded according to the template found here.  Each team member will also turn in an anonymous team contribution form for each lab.  These are available from the lab schedule web page.  The individual grade will then be adjusted based on the results of the team contribution forms.  Students with contributions lower than the rest of the team will receive a grade deduction from the team grade.  Ideally each team member should contribute equally to the total effort needed to complete the lab and each team member will contribute in a “very good” to “satisfactory” manner.

Notebooks

            Each team will maintain one laboratory notebook.  Carbonless laboratory notebooks are available in the bookstore by the chemistry books.  Each team will need to purchase one notebook.  Laboratory notebooks are expected to be neat and organized.  If something must be crossed out and rewritten, please neatly place a single line through the deleted section.  If absolutely needed, you can rewrite sections of your notebook provided the original data sections are neatly crossed out but still included with the rewritten portions.  Laboratory notebook preparation will serve as the pre-lab for each experiment.  Parts 1-4 as explained below should be done prior to entering the lab.  Your team should have time to begin, if not complete, these sections during the end of the previous lab session.  The first page of the lab write-up will be initialed at the beginning of each laboratory session.  The laboratory instructor reserves the right to ask your team to leave the lab (and hence give your team a zero for the lab) if the team is not prepared for that day's experiment.  Laboratory notebooks will be graded on whether the following sections are completed according to the criteria below, on the overall clarity and organization of each section, and on the validity of measurements, calculations, and conclusions. The target audience for the laboratory notebooks should be someone who has about the same chemistry knowledge as you but has never seen the lab.  In particular, assume that the reader has not seen the experiment before nor has read the laboratory handouts. Make sure that you provide detailed experimental goals, descriptions, observations, and conclusions according to the following criteria and descriptions.

The Laboratory Notebook – sections to include for each experiment:

1)      Lab heading – title of experiment, team name, and date – Use given space in header of first page. List team members’ names below title block on first page of each lab report only.  On successive pages, give title, cont.

2)      Goals – List major and minor goals of the experiment.  These should include the specific laboratory objectives (not just the purpose)the learning objectives, and the team goals.

3)      Proposed procedure – brief outline of major experimental steps:

a.       Include the chemical reaction(s).

b.      For experiments with a more defined procedure, list or summarize the major procedural parts.

c.       For experiments for which you will design the procedure, provide a brainstorm list of possible procedures or strategies to solving the problem.  You should be fairly specific in your brainstorm procedures to help you organize your time in lab.  Most experiments will have some details given and some details left for your design.

d.      Provide a detailed list of all chemicals, mixtures, and solutions to be used during the entire procedure.  Include chemical formulas and concentrations, where appropriate.

e.       Include pre-lab questions or problems if assigned.  Show all calculations.

4)      Safety and waste

a.       List major laboratory safety precautions.

b.      For the specific reagents noted, list specific chemical safety precautions from both the material provided and relevant MSDS information.  Suggested sites include http://hazard.com/msds/, http://chemfinder.com, and http://www.mallchem.com/.

c.       Include chemical waste disposal procedures regardless of how trivial – remember your audience.

5)      Procedure – Provide a detailed experimental procedure of what you actually did during lab on the left side of the page. (See example on the last page.)  List steps in chronological order representing the time spent in lab and outside lab where applicable.  You should list general chemical amounts here.  Do not write the experimental section in second person voice.  You are describing what you did, not providing directions for someone else to follow.  Use past tense.  Be very specific with respect to glassware (type and size), chemicals (formula and concentration), and equipment used.  Also list any additional equipment that your team used during the lab that was not specified by the procedure.

a.       Use headers to separate each procedural section.

b.      Throughout the procedure section, you should include your rationale and problem-solving approach for completing the lab.  In particular, you should provide rationale and theory to explain and support why you chose to perform the various experimental steps, especially if deviating from a given procedure.

c.       Include pictures of set-ups and equipment.

Fill in qualitative and quantitative observations on the right side of the outline where appropriate.

a.       Qualitative observations should include a detailed description of chemicals, reactions, and equipment before and after each addition or over time.  Charts or tables should be constructed for large sets of repeating qualitative observations.

b.      Quantitative observations should include any measurements that are taken during lab.  All measurements should accurately reflect the appropriate level of precision; in other words, all measurements should have the correct number of significant figures.  Charts or tables should be constructed for large sets quantitative observations.  Combine similar qualitative and quantitative data into one chart or table, if appropriate.

At the end of the laboratory session, each team member must sign off and date the data collected.  The best place to sign is on the last page of the procedure section.

Mistakes?  Draw a single line through a small section of text or an “X” through a large section and rewrite.

            I hope that through this laboratory experience you will gain essential scientific skills including problem solving, critical thinking, laboratory skills, writing and presenting experimental data, and teamwork.  This lab will hopefully provide a solid foundation for future science courses and/or for future careers.

Section 5 Laboratory Notebook Example