Out of the textbook and into the world: Student projects in the radiochemistry laboratory

A major objective of any laboratory course should be to stimulate students to extend their knowledge of the subject to specific problems. In the radiochemistry laboratory course at the University of Kentucky, we encourage students to make the transition from the textbook or laboratory manual to the "real" world through the use of a special project. This project, which typically replaces two normal laboratory exercises, is a short research problem that the student independently develops and executes. An overview of the incorporation of special projects into our radiochemistry laboratory course is presented.