The Origin of the Lab Disk Project: Hope College has conducted a total of 24 NSF supported Summer Workshops starting in 1964. More than 1,050 high school chemistry teachers have attended these programs. The first 21 Institutes targeted Advanced Placement chemistry teachers and emphasized key topics in the AP course as well as laboratory experiments that would have direct take-home value for the participants. In our last three-year round of NSF funding from 1989 through 1991, we focused on laboratory experiments for first-year honors, second-year and AP chemistry courses. Frank S. Quiring served as the laboratory director in all 24 programs at Hope College. He was an AP chemistry teacher at Clayton High School in Clayton, Missouri until June, 1991. Now he is retired and lives in North Newton, Kansas.

The laboratory experiments done in the summer workshops at Hope College have never been compiled and published as a written laboratory manual. Each summer we relied on oral pre-laboratory and post-laboratory classroom discussions as our approach to laboratory instruction for the workshops. The participants themselves were expected to adapt the experiments to their own high school settings. Many high school teachers throughout the nation have made revisions and have edited impressive laboratory manuals that include Hope College experiments. The object of the Lab Disk Project is to supply updated copies of the experiments that can be readily edited and adapted for use in the high school laboratory both by past participants and by other interested teachers.

Rationale for the Approach: During the last years of our summer programs, many participants each summer brought their own computers to Hope College for a number of reasons. Some interfaced with lab experiments; other centered their attention on data processing, plotting and graphing; and most used word processing as their first choice for editing new documents. In 1990 and 1991 we had a Macintosh lab with twelve stations in the vicinity of the chemistry laboratory. This attracted veteran Mac users and introduced many others to the advantages of this user-friendly system and software. The ease of adapting disk material for individual instructional use convinced us that we should disseminate our lab write-ups on computer disks. The NSF program officer for the Hope College grant, Dr. Joseph Stewart, concurred, and the Foundation awarded us a supplemental grant to proceed with the Disk Project.

Disk Preparation: The compilation includes most of the experiments used in the 1991 Summer Project. The experiments were compiled and edited by Eugene C. Jekel, Director of the Summer Projects; Frank S. Quiring, Laboratory Director of the Summer Projects; and Elaine Jekel, Administrative Assistant.

Hope College granted a one-semester sabbatical leave in Spring 1992 to the Summer Project Director, Dr. Eugene C. Jekel. This afforded time to get started on the Disk Project. The overall task turned out to be too massive an undertaking to be accomplished in that semester. He retired in May 1993, but continues to teach General Chemistry Laboratory at Hope College on a part-time basis. After his retirement we have been able to complete the project and make the disks available to high school teachers.

Dr. Elaine Jekel served as Administrative Assistant for the NSF supported Summer Projects and has worked extensively in the production of the disks and the accompanying photocopied materials. She, too, retired from Hope College in May 1993 and continues to teach General Chemistry Laboratory at Hope College on a part-time basis.

Frank S. Quiring throughout the years has had a major role in selecting the experiments, editing the write-ups, and conducting pre- and post-lab instructional sessions. He is the primary contributor for the Teacher Notes provided with each of the experiments in the Disk Project.

Acknowledgments: Hope College, throughout the 24 summer programs, was very supportive and made extensive in-kind as well as direct cost-sharing contributions. Other major contributors include:

1. The National Science Foundation: The award for the 1991 Summer Project included supplemental funding for the preparation and dissemination of the disks of chemistry experiments.
2. The Dow Chemical Company Foundation: A separate grant from the foundation provided support for the preparation of the disks and assisted Hope College in meeting the cost-sharing expectations of the National Science Foundation.
3. Flinn Scientific, Inc.: A donation from the company assisted in the cost-sharing for the 1991 project and in the preparation of the disks.

The authors express their sincere gratitude to each of the contributing organizations.

Availability: The Disks including Student Handouts and Teacher Notes along with a hard copy of the contents of the disks as well as sample student results and other supplementary sheets are available at a not-for-profit cost and handling charge. Send inquiries to Dr. Eugene C. Jekel. Do not use e-mail.

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