A novel laboratory curriculum is presented, developed around some common tasks of a laboratory researcher in chemistry: purification, synthesis, and measurement. The capstone of the sequence is an integrated laboratory, leading to a more independent research experience. Students who have completed this laboratory curriculum appear to perform…

A foundation-level course is described that integrates material related to reactivity in organic, inorganic, and biochemistry. Designed for second-year students, the course serves majors in chemistry, biochemistry, and biology, as well as prehealth-professions students. Building on an earlier course that developed concepts of nucleophiles and…

The ability to access chemical literature is an important skill for the developing chemist. Although the College of Saint Benedict and Saint John's University chemistry department had implemented a variety of individual exercises into the introductory course sequence to help students develop literature searching skills, second-year students still…

Road map problems ask students to integrate their knowledge of organic reactions with pattern recognition skills to "fill in the blanks" in the synthesis of an organic compound. Students are asked to identify familiar organic reactions in unfamiliar contexts. A practical context, such as a medicinally useful target compound, helps…