ABSTRACT
Nearly every undergraduate studying chemistry is now given a project to complete during the final year of the course. Chemistry projects are also playing an increasingly important part in taught Master’s degree courses. The cynical may say that a final year project represents the ultimate expression of the heuristic principle in education. The demise of the traditional laboratory course in final year chemistry degree programmes is a natural consequence of the rising importance of instrumental methods in chemistry. It is no longer possible either on economic or educational grounds to teach every undergraduate every modern laboratory technique when each technique has its own specialized instruments. This is even more true at a time of rapid advances in instrument sophistication, performance and cost.
