Throw away those chemistry lab-course 'cookbooks', says Aaron Finke, guest blogger at The Sceptical Chymist (http://tinyurl.com/lvjw5q).

A graduate student in organic chemistry at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, Finke recently oversaw an organic chemistry lab course attended primarily by students aiming to study medical or veterinary science. The absurdity of having students perform basic extractions, chromatography and syntheses was not lost on Finke: “It is highly unlikely they will actually use the specific skills implemented in the course, unless they plan on distilling their own whiskey!” Furthermore, the course failed to deliver what students should be learning — the process of scientific inquiry, how scientific knowledge is validated and exposure to modern chemistry instrumentation such as nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and mass spectroscopy.

One commenter on the the post reported learning how to gather NMR and mass-spectroscopy data on an organic chemistry course, so the tide may be turning. In his next post, Finke will explore how some educators are looking to make such courses more relevant.