In a university third-year instrumental chemistry laboratory students build a laser based polarimeter for determining light scattering with commercially available optical components used in modern optics research laboratories. During this laboratory experiment, students learn that solutions containing molecules which scatter light also influence the polarization properties of the laser beam by measuring Stokes parameters to calculate the degree of linearly polarized light. They also discover how the polarization properties of a laser beam are affected by half- and quarter-wave plates. Lastly, students are asked to recognize and assess the sources of error associated with the experiment including background intensity, integration time, and polarizer angle accuracy when measuring the Stokes parameters. A majority of students who completed the experiment agreed that this laboratory experiment required more critical thinking than traditional building instrumentation modules that they were exposed to, and that it improved their ability to learn independently and perform research.