LABORATORY DEVELOPMENT FOR RELEVANT STUDENT LEARNING

This work utilizes a model of relevance in science education by Stuckey, Hofstein, Mamlok-Naaman, and Eiliks (2013) to develop laboratory activities. In an Agriculture and Health and Human Science major chemistry course from a large Midwestern university, three different laboratory activities have been developed to include real-world applications of chemical concepts important to the student’s possible interests and future careers. These include an intermolecular forces lab utilizing surfactants and collard greens, a potato lab utilizing enzyme kinetics, and a titrations lab utilizing hard water. Although these laboratory activities are still under development, their procedures and content are presented here.