Background Chemistry 109, the Accelerated General Chemistry Laboratory I, has an enrollment of about 380 each year.
Most students are freshmen majoring chemical, engineering and medical sciences.
The objective of the initiative is to streamline data acquisition and analysis by introducing computer-interfaced apparatus into general laboratory courses. In this way, the students can spend more time making observations and thinking about chemical events in each experiment. After two years of implementation and modification, the course has met with success. While the lab itself has been computerized, other aspects of teaching of Chem109 have been slow to keep pace with the modernization. For example, the lecture, TA and faculty office hours have been held in the traditional way.