Month: August 2013

Not everyone has found a place in lab yet (see previous post), but that’s OK because we aren’t going to do any ‘wet’ experiments during the first week of classes. Here’s the plan for week #1 broken down by day and lab section:

• Sept 2, M – Labor Day (no class)
• Sept 3, Tu – Tu lab meets at Chemistry loading dock at 1:10 PM for fire extinguisher training. From there go inside to C209 (our lab) for the first half of a safety and lab policy meeting (starts at 1:30). Next, if you haven’t already done so, read the relevant portions of the Chemistry Safety Manual. Complete the Safety Quiz that will be distributed in lab. Sign the Safety Contract. Meet back at C209 at 3:00 to go over the Quiz and turn in your signed Safety Contract and Quiz.
• Sept 4, W – same as Tu
• Sept 5, Th – same as Tu
• Sept 6, F – same as Tu, but meet at loading dock at 2:45 PM and in C209 at 3:15/4:30

If you are enrolled in the Tu or W labs, please attend on your lab day. If you are enrolled in the M lab or if you haven’t yet found a lab, you can attend any day, but W/Th are best and Tu/F are worst.

Wondering what is coming ahead? Check out the lab manual link and the lab calendar link (click on a blue box to see what is scheduled).

61 students had signed up for lab lecture as of last Wednesday. As of today (Saturday), there are 68 lab students: 24 students in the M lab, 24 students in the Tu lab, and 14 students in the W lab (and 10 students on wait lists). We have room for 72. There should be room for everybody, but I have learned the hard way that allowing students to sign up for all of the classes they need (or want) independently of other students almost never produces a useful set of enrollments.

I don’t have a solution for any of this yet so I am going to spend the next few days playing ‘wait and see’. Here’s what I think will happen:

• The wait list students will come tell me their stories (why you need to take Chem 201 and why you need to be in the M/Tu lab instead of W)
• Some students will do us all a Big Favor (really!) and switch from M or Tu labs to the W lab
• The wait list students (and maybe others) will ask themselves some existential questions about class schedules: Do I need to take Chem 201 right now or is it something that can wait until another year? Do I need to take the course that conflicts with the W 201 lab right now or can that course wait until another year? Is there more than one way to be happy?

In the meantime some lab periods will slip by and we will approach the Add deadline (Sept 13). Don’t worry about missing lab. We won’t start ‘wet’ experiments in Chem 201 during the first (shortened) week of classes. But that’s the subject of another post …