Organic Chemistry Lab REActivities
The content provided through an organic lab REActivity is traditional relative to most lab textbooks. The students begin by learning standard operating organic lab techniques and then graduate to running organic reactions. The following are the benefits to a holistic adoption of REActivities
Molecular continuity
Practice time and structured validation
Students revisit lab techniques repeatedly
Students prompted to revisit their own lab notebook entries
Increased peer-to-peer engagement
Find out more about the unique features of Organic REActivities.
How are REActivities Unique?
The Self Start
Instructional Freedoms
Coordinating Lab Sections
Organic Chemistry REActivities Workbook
Interested in adopting the REActivities workbook for your organic chemistry lab? Click below to see how you can access the workbook and even customize a lab manual through Lab Library from Xanedu.
Lab Videos
If you are looking for resources that will help prepare lab instructors and/or augment the lab materials delivered to students as a pre-lab activity, or even need to assign a lab virtually to a student, REActivities has got you covered. Now available for each wet lab are accompanying videos for the students or newbie instructor to watch and follow along.
Sign Language Incorporation in Chemistry Education
American Sign Language (ASL) has the unique advantage of taking complex concepts and compacting them into a single sign or simple narrative. Our work has led to the creation, implementation, and evaluation of using these chemistry signs and expansions to augment the learning environment when being introduced to electron pushing mechanisms and transition state modeling.
REActivities Research
We are continually evaluating the effects of implementing REActivities in the lab. To learn about what we have discovered so far, click below to see the peer reviewed articles pertaining to this work.
What Students Have to Say about Organic Lab REActivities
"It has pictures that clearly demonstrate the technique that I need to do. It has clear step-by-step procedure. "
-Senior, Environmental Science major
"REActivities makes you take your time with the lab. You can’t just speed through it without stopping to answer questions and process what is actually taking place in the lab. It asks more compelling questions. They make me think more deeply about the actual science. "
-Sophomore, Chemical Engineering major
"REActivities can be more challenging than other labs but it is definitely more rewarding in the end because the concept is understood."
-Sophomore, Biomedical Sciences major
"The questions lead you to actually learn what you're doing rather than just preform a procedure. Interesting and unique way to teach lab. "
-Sophomore, Biomedical Sciences major
"I do like the fact that you get to do each technique twice, once as practice, then once as the real experiment. I like that the first time I try a new technique does not have to be perfect and it gives me a chance to figure out what I'm doing before the real deal that counts."
-Sophomore, Biomedical Engineering major
"There was more interactive questions along the way compared to just doing a procedure and getting data. "
-Sophomore, Chemical Engineer major
"I like the questions and graphics that guide you through the experiment. "
-Sophomore, Biomedical Sciences major
"The instructions try to make the concepts easier and include diagrams/scenarios to help students understand challenging ideas like polarity. "
-Sophomore, Chemistry major
"Some examples in the book really helped make the concepts make sense (the polar bears for example)."
-Junior, Biomedical Sciences major
"I like the self dependancy with this."
-Sophomore, Applied Math major
"I like that REActivities provides a guided learning experience whereas in my past lab experiences, you just come in and follow directions not really learning what's going on. "
-Sophomore Biology/Spanish major
"The REActivities lab book was enjoyable to use. The "rookie mistake" tidbits were also helpful to us on occasion."
-Junior, Biomedical Sciences
"I think there is a good balance of challenge and ease. I feel more independent while doing them, which can be slightly more challenging. In General Chem Lab, the instructor walked us through what we had to do before the lab, whereas in the Reactivates lab, we told to do it first and then ask if we need help. "
-Sophomore, Biology major
"I found it harder to answer some of the questions as the lab was being completed but I was able to ask questions and figure everything out. Overall it was one of the best lab experiences I have had in the lab-based classes that I have taken."
-Sophomore, Biomedical Engineering major
Contact Information:
Professor of Chemistry
Rochester Institute of Technology
585-475-2634
The REActivities team is grateful for the generous support of the National Science Foundation,Rochester Institute of Technology, and Monroe Community College.
The authors acknowledge our ancestors and their contributions to chemistry.
The REActivities team is grateful for the generous support of the National Science Foundation, Rochester Institute of Technology, the National Institutes of Health, the University of New Mexico, Northern Arizona University, and Southwestern Indian Polytechnic Institute for their generous support with our design and development of these materials.