Loopholed Scripts: A New Inquiry Approach for the Undergraduate Laboratory

• Published in: Journal of chemical education Vol. 100; no. 7; pp. 2539 - 2547
• Main Authors: Almeida Bauer Zytkuewisz, Matheus, Martins de Godoi, Denis Ricardo, Moura Bego, Amadeu
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Easton American Chemical Society and Division of Chemical Education, Inc 11.07.2023; American Chemical Society
• Subjects: Case studies; Chemistry; College students; Focus Groups; Inquiry method; Laboratory Experiments; Qualitative research; Science education; Science Experiments; Science Laboratories; Students; Undergraduate Students; Undergraduate study; First-Year Undergraduate/General; Inquiry-Based/Discovery Learning; Electrolytic/Galvanic Cells/Potentials; Chemical Education Research
• ISSN: 0021-9584; 1938-1328
• DOI: 10.1021/acs.jchemed.2c01197

This study’s general theme revolves around practical work in chemical education, and its scope is the employment of a novel inquiry strategy combined with a new openness level. We investigate how the controlled positive error, a new device for inquiry activities developed by us, affects undergraduate students’ experience of an experiment and develops their scientific mind after they attend a laboratory class. Qualitative research of the case study type was carried out. The subjects were first-year students enrolled in a general chemistry course. We employed textual documents and focus groups for data gathering and found that significantly changing the pattern of a laboratory activity, despite being a challenging and effortful task, had many benefits for the student’s development, such as increasing their connection to and proactivity toward the experiment.