The Development of a New Laboratory Course in Chemistry

It is especially important that we develop new perspectives for laboratory instruction in science. It is a widely accepted credo that experiences in the laboratory are essential to effective science programs. Occasionally this tenet is questioned, however, and, although laboratory experiences survive, the answers offered to critics are not overwhelmingly impressive. Certainly laboratory work is not as efficient and effective a mode of instruction as it might be, and it is high time that we take a hard look, with a fresh perspective, at learning in the laboratory.

This opening quotation is taken from a book entitled The Experience of Science: A New Perspective for Laboratory Teaching in which it is advocated that given the massive expansion in the amount of scientific knowledge, it is crucial, with regard to lab work, to give a great deal of consideration to what kind of information is presented to the students and what approach is used. The book and the recommendations are more than 30 years old but there is still a need to develop new perspectives for laboratory instruction in science.