Learning Chemistry Research outside the Laboratory: Novel Graduate and Undergraduate Courses in Research Methodology

摘要

Traditionally, research in chemistry is learned as a discovery experience with little formal structure. The student chooses a research advisor and problem from those offered. Typically the student learns the lab techniques via mentoring by the advisor or research group members, collects data, at-tempts to make sense of the data, searches the literature, and finally writes the report or thesis. The student is expected to learn by doing. The discovery method has been successful in the upper-level undergraduate and graduate laboratory, and aspects of it are now modifying traditional lower-level undergraduate classroom learning (1,2).