Increasing Curricula Content Through "Lecture-Laboratory" Experiments

这个项目回答了这样一个问题：如何在不增加或减少课程的情况下向本科课程添加额外的材料？本文认为，课堂实验室是实现这一目标的一种方式。为了评估这篇论文，该项目在本科阶段教授催化，包括一套相关的基于实验室的家庭作业，作为高级化学工程动力学课程的一部分。然而，为了实现这一目标，实验室设备绝对有必要是用户友好的，有能力展示催化中的重要概念，并与简短、重点突出的作业兼容。所有这些属性都是这里使用的紧凑、灵活设备的特点。学生不仅可以在课堂实验室中接触到基本的催化背景知识，而且设备也完全符合单元操作实验课程的开放式6至8周的实验任务。这个项目可以作为解决其他工程学科中类似问题的潜在模型。最后，应该指出的是，这个特殊的项目完全符合化学工程系最近的承诺，即彻底重新考虑和翻新其本科实验室。

This project answers the question, How can additional material be added to the undergraduate curricula without the addition or subtraction of courses? The thesis is that the inclusion of lecture-laboratories is one way of accomplishing this goal. To evaluate this thesis, the project teaches catalysis at more than a cursory degree at the undergraduate level by including a related set of laboratory-based homework assignments as part of the senior-level chemical engineering kinetics course. However, for this goal to be achieved, it is absolutely necessary that the laboratory apparatus be user-friendly, have the capability of demonstrating the important concepts in catalysis, and be compatible with short, focused assignments. All of these attributes are features of the compact, flexible apparatus being used here. Not only can students be exposed to basic catalysis background in the lecture-laboratories, but the equipment is also totally compatible with the open-ended 6- to 8-week laboratory assignments that characterize the Unit Operations Laboratory course. This project serves as a potential model for addressing similar problems in other engineering disciplines. Finally, it should be pointed out that this particular project is totally compatible with the recent commitment on the part of the Chemical Engineering Department to totally rethink and refurbish its undergraduate laboratories.