What Makes Organic Chemistry REActivities Unique?
The content provided through a 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. So what makes a REActivity unique from other lab delivery methods? What follows are the benefits to a holistic adoption of REActivities:
Molecular continuity and avoiding silo experiments- since many of the same compounds are used over and over again throughout the year, the students become more familiar with the molecules and their properties. This helps to connect one lab to another from a content and skills perspective. Using the same communal pool of compounds may also cut stockroom storage cost for your labs as well as the advantage of ordering in bulk.
Value-added laboratory experience-students are rarely throwing away their newly cleaned/synthesized materials.
Practice time and structured validation- each technique REActivity has structured practice time so students do not have to write in their lab notebook and are free to explore and fail without negative consequence.
Students revisit lab techniques repeatedly- This feature serves to validate the importance of each technique covered.
Students prompted to revisit their own lab notebook entries- This rare lab delivery feature emphasizes the importance of keeping a professional lab notebook that is legible, accurate, and managed in real time. End-of-semester REActivity lab practicals are also available in the Lab Library and open the greatest opportunity for the instructor to promote lab notebook use.
Increased peer-to-peer engagement- Structured through partner work
Organized framework for comparing data with other students nearby
Contact Information:
Professor of Chemistry
Rochester Institute of Technology
585-475-2634
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.