What Faculty Interviews Reveal about Meaningful Learning in the Undergraduate Chemistry Laboratory

Forty chemistry faculty from American Chemical Society-approved departments were interviewed to determine their goals for undergraduate chemistry laboratory. Faculty were stratified by type of institution, departmental success with regard to National Science Foundation funding for laboratory reform, and level of laboratory course. Interview transcripts that were coded and analyzed using the lens of meaningful learning reveal the importance of cognitive and psychomotor goals relative to affective learning, particularly in organic chemistry and upper-division chemistry laboratory courses. This research reveals that the undergraduate chemistry laboratory offers multiple opportunities for faculty to articulate learning goals across the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains. Furthermore, these goals are accessible across the undergraduate chemistry curriculum from general chemistry through organic chemistry and into a wide array of upper-division laboratories. In this study, faculty showed a decreasing emphasis on affective goals in organic chemistry and upper-division courses. Whether affective goals should be a part of the organic and upper-division chemistry curriculum remains a question for faculty to discuss.