Hello, David, and Everyone,

Glad to see this! As a former journalism major and now chemist, I am a fan of laboratory notebooks for the skills in data organization and recording which these can provide. I added these to our General Chemistry I & II course requirements years back. In General Chemistry pre-lab lectures I let them take notes on the lecture, which they can  use on the quiz which comes immediately after the pre-lab lecture. This helps the students to pay good attention to the pre-lab lecture.  They are supposed to come to lab with the name, purpose, etc. of the lab already entered in their lab notebooks.

I also require lab notebooks for my online Environmental Science course and my in-person College Chemistry (for Nursing students) course. Even though non-majors and nurses will most likely not become chemists, I want them to know how Chemistry “works” and to gain the benefits which come from lab notebook skills. We use lab notebooks in other courses such as Organic Chemistry I & II and Physical Chemistry I & II.

While the lab notebook entries are not graded stringently, the students do at least gain an introduction and acquaintance with the process.

Best,

Ruth Ann

EXTERNAL Exercise Caution