For most students in the nutrition and food sciences, as well as the rest of the life sciences, the freshman chemistry laboratory is the first and a key introduction to the fundamental concepts of experimental laboratory sciences. For some time now I have been concerned that many, if not most, of such courses and the materials presented in them lack relevancy for many of those students.
Freshman chemistry laboratories have traditionally been taught as inorganic chemistry laboratories and have used laboratory examples from inorganic chemistry. Nutrition, food science, and life science students have trouble seeing the relevance of inorganic chemistry to their chosen field and often are ''turned off'' by these laboratories. That is a real tragedy, since modern nutrition sciences, food sciences, and life sciences are heavily dependent upon a foundation of chemistry and an experimental laboratory science approach.
I believe that freshman chemistry laboratories could be modified to make them more useful and relevant to students in the nutrition sciences, food sciences, and life sciences. The introductory freshman chemistry should be designed to provide an introduction to the basic principles of making quantitative chemical measurements in biological systems. Emphasis should be given to essential laboratory techniques, data analysis, result evaluation, and decision making skills. Experiments performed should probably include pH and buffers, absorption spectroscopy, and colorimetric analyses (both equilibrium and kinetic). Laboratory examples should be drawn from biologically relevant materials. The course goal is to have the students understand the fundamental concepts of making and evaluating quantitative chemical measurements on real world samples. The entire emphasis of such a course would be on laboratory work and a coordinated approach to teaching fundamental laboratory practices.
Micro-scale laboratories should be given serious consideration since they have a number of advantages including reduced cost of reagents, reduced cost of disposal of reagents, and increased safety for the student. Furthermore, the use of micro-scale experiments introduces a note of reality since many of the modern laboratories routinely use microscale assays. Given the importance of computers in today's laboratories, computerized instrument control, data acquisition, and result computation should be done whenever possible. The instruments used should be as similar as possible to real world instrumentation consistent with the limitations of cost and other practical considerations.
It may take some efforts to instigate such reforms. However, understanding and appreciation of chemistry and the experimental laboratory sciences are crucial to the future development of nutrition sciences, food sciences, and the life sciences and it is very important that the next generation of these scientists receives a good foundation in these areas.
I have written this editorial with the hope that it would stimulate a discussion of these issues. I welcome your comments and thoughts.