Lab Work & Your CHEM 206 Course Grade
Your overall laboratory grade will be a weighted average calculated according to the final grade distributions below. At the end of the semester, your laboratory grade will be reported to your lecture instructor who will incorporate it into your final lecture grade as indicated in your course syllabus. An explanation of each grade category is provided in the next section.
Final Grade Distribution
Orientation 5%
Project 1 20%
Project 2 20%
Project 3 20%
Project 4 25%
Characterization Problem Set 10%
Grade Category Descriptions & Grading Practices
Orientation: The orientation assignment is completed during the first week of the semester. The purpose of the workshop is to familiarize you with lab operations, safety guidelines, and digital materials you are required to use in this course. It focuses on a review of the characterization methods (IR, NMR, GC/MS) you learned in CHEM 205 lab.
Projects: The laboratory experience is divided into projects. Work required to complete each project spans multiple weeks. Each project is built around an overall objective and includes various assignments that enable you to accomplish the goal. Early in the course, projects include a variety of learning assignments that will familiarize you with new laboratory techniques and analytical methods. Later projects focus on the application of skills learned in the first half of the course. An explanation of the various types of assignments that may be included within a project score is given below. The project homepage outlines specifically how each assignment will contribute to the total project score.
• Workshops: Workshops are learning experiences that may involve online work, in-lab work, or a combination of both. The purpose of a workshop is to introduce you to a concept and give you a chance to practice related skills. Workshops often are structured in a way that encourages successful answers to one section before moving on to the next.
• Proficiency Quizzes: Proficiency Quizzes are short tests that are completed in Blackboard. Each proficiency quiz is associated with a specific workshop concept. Your goal should be to master the concepts presented in this course by the end of the semester. For that reason, you may retake the proficiency quizzes as many times as you wish before the last day of the classes. Your highest score on each proficiency quiz will be incorporated into the associated project score.
• Prelab Quizzes: Before you will be allowed to perform laboratory work for a project, you must complete the associated Prelab Quiz. These assignments are short (~10 questions) assessments that are completed in Blackboard. In order to answer the questions successfully, you should read the laboratory procedure, review any relevant techniques, and prepare your laboratory notebook prior to taking the quiz. Prelab Technique Quizzes are due BEFORE the associated lab meeting.
• Lab Notebook: Your lab notebook is an electronic document, a template for which is provided. Your notebook must be completed according to the information presented in the Lab Notebook section of the website and any specific instructions provided for each project.
Characterization Problem Set: In Projects 3 and 4, you will learn about new NMR techniques that may be helpful in unambiguously determining the structure of a compound. The Characterization Problem Set is an assignment that will help you practice these new skills as well as an opportunity to demonstrate your proficiency in using accumulated characterization data for a sample to make an effective argument regarding the structural identity of a compound.