Discusses the role of the laboratory in teaching chemistry, describing and differentiating between empirical laboratory investigations and discovery laboratory investigations. Also points out that if a laboratory is designed to illustrate something, it should be the scientific method. (JN)

Criticizes the way organic chemistry teaching laboratory experiments are approached from the viewpoint of physical chemistry. Compares these experiments to cooking. Stresses that what matters is not the practice of the finger skills of organic chemistry but practice in the style of thinking of organic chemists. (CW)

Factors affecting traditional laboratory instruction in chemistry are discussed. They include: responses to potential hazards in the undergraduate laboratory; student distaste for laboratory classes; equipment and chemical costs; lack of qualified teaching assistants; and faculty pressures to do research. New directions for introductory…

Reports on the session at the New England Association of Chemistry Teachers meeting on chemistry laboratories in March 1987. Speakers included Leonard K. Nash and Audrey Champagne on values and goals; Howard Ende on regulation; Stanley Smith and Jerry Bell on the uses of computers; and Miles Pickering on the human dimension. (CW)

Discusses some of the difficulties involved with chemistry laboratory experiences and some laboratory manuals. Cites studies that indicate that part of the difficulty can be attributed to constraints relating to the short-term memory of the operational information and the assumption that students have a certain level of knowledge. (TW)