Virtual Choose-Your-Own-Adventure Prelabs Improve Student Understanding of Analytical Chemistry Concepts and Instrumentation

The COVID-19 pandemic forced instructors of chemistry lab classes to develop a variety of alternative materials for remote delivery of traditional hands-on content. One solution to this challenge was virtual choose-your-own-adventure (CYOA) laboratories that allowed students to practice realistic decision-making and collect authentic data. With the return to in-person instruction, these CYOA laboratories can be modified into prelab exercises to support and supplement in-person experiments. Four virtual CYOA laboratories were adapted into prelab exercises for an upper-division instrumental analysis course to prepare students for experiments in chromatography method development and electronic circuit design. Students were surveyed to gauge their opinions on the prelabs and their comfort in the laboratory overall. Survey results indicated that students enjoyed the CYOA prelab activities and found them helpful in feeling prepared for experiments and understanding the source and quality of their experimental data. Students who completed the virtual prelabs met more learning objectives in several important categories on lab reports for two electronic circuit design experiments. Virtual CYOA prelabs may be a good way for instructors to expand the depth of their lab curriculum, improve student learning in the lab, and reduce the anxiety that their students feel before complex experiments.