The Postsecondary Inorganic Chemistry Instructional Laboratory Curriculum: Results from a National Survey

A national survey of chemists (n= 174) explored the self-reported format and focus of postsecondary inorganic chemistryinstructional laboratory curricula. Multiple instructional laboratorycourse formats were observed, including stand-alone inorganicchemistry instructional laboratory courses, inorganic chemistrylaboratory instruction as a component of a multidisciplinaryinstructional laboratory course, and the absence of an inorganicchemistry instructional laboratory experience. Additionally, thetypes of synthetic, characterization, and purification methods, aswell as the professional skills addressed in the surveyed courses,varied greatly. The results of this work have direct implications as a"current state of the curriculum"description for inorganic chemistryeducators designing and revising instructional laboratory courses.Additionally, these results speak to (1) the need for professional organizations to reinforce the importance of postsecondaryinorganic chemistry in the chemistry major curriculum, (2) the demand for quality curricular materials that are easily adaptable tomultiple instructional laboratory contexts, and (3) the call for further research on how the inorganic chemistry (and broader chemistry) instructional curriculum is enacted