Sample Lab Schedules

These are actual lab schedules from past semesters. Hopefully, they demonstrate the variations that modular approach allows. The schedules refer to Chem140a and Chem140b. This is a two-semester sequence for non-science majors, open to all students at the university. Some degree programs require students to take both of these, whereas others require only the first semester. It follows that registration for the A part has been roughly double than for the B part, peaking at around 500 students.

The courses were taught by different faculty members during these semesters, some times with a different faculty member in charge of the lab and different one in charge of the lecture. The A and B parts were always taught by different faculty. Graduate students, many of them first-year, were the actual lab instructors.

Notes

• We normally skip lab in the first week of classes. There is just too much commotion and confusion that week, which we found interferes with starting the lab properly. On the other hand, we often do an experiment when checking-in and checking-out.

• Some experiments have somewhat different names in these schedules than in the manual. During lab evolution, we were changing names and modularizing some experiments. A few experiments did not work out and were dropped.

• Summer schedules are somewhat more challenging. While the lab period is 3 hrs during spring and fall semesters, it is 3.75 hrs during summer. Moreover, summer students tend to have better background and motivation.

• The order of experiments has been changing depending on the lecture schedule defined by a given instructor. Different faculty also had different ideas which labs should precede lecture and which should follow.