Lowering the activation barrier to create a constructively aligned undergraduate chemistry laboratory experience – a review of innovations in assessments and course design

Abstract

Reimagining laboratory education in chemistry can help address demands to revitalize the undergraduate chemistry curriculum. In doing so, we can help students think like scientists and connect chemistry to other disciplines. Historically, undergraduate laboratories were taught through expository experiments coupled with traditional lab reports. However, these practices do not allow for constructive alignment of the curriculum, because the assessments target the cognitive domain of learning while the learning outcomes and class activities target the psychomotor domain. This lack of alignment also limits meaningful learning in the laboratory, at the heart of the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains. This review summarises some recent innovations in course design and assessments for undergraduate level laboratory courses. Overall, we aspire to lower the activation energy barrier for educators to find and implement curricular reforms in laboratory education that are constructively aligned within their course. We structure this review under the major learning outcomes of laboratory instruction, defined by Reid and Shah: (1) linking cognitive and psychomotor domains; (2) developing practical skills; (3) designing experiments; and (4) improving transferable skills, which are further separated into scientific writing, oral communication, and peer learning.