LABORATORY TEACHING FOR CHEMICAL ENGINEERING UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS

The study programs for scientific and technical degrees include classroom theoretical teaching, analysis and resolution of real exercises, and some more practical teaching in the laboratory. The laboratory teaching focuses in the application of the theoretical concepts and principles to practical cases, in order to complement the theoretical classes and to reinforce the understandability of the main theoretical concepts.
Commonly, the professor provides the students with a detailed recipe about what to do and how to do it in the lab. The recipe contains the theoretical basis and the detailed description of the work in the lab in order to reach the desired result. It makes the work in the lab fixed and non-creative. The approach to the lab teaching can be different. The lab teaching can be carried out with out the recipe. In this case, the professor has to provide the students with the objective to be reached. The students should reach the final objective using the theoretical concepts (from the classes) and the practical tools and procedures in the lab. It makes the laboratory teaching more dynamic and creative. However, it implies more work for the professor and the students. The professor needs to supervise the work of the students more closely; and the students have to organize their work before to go to the lab. This model of lab teaching requires more resources and more time, but it favors the application of the theoretical concepts in real cases, the critical analyses of the results and the collaborative work.