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Renovations underway at the Harvard University Science Center have closed teaching laboratories on the first and second floors, suspended many science courses, and sparked frustration from some undergraduate students.
Construction of the teaching lab is scheduled to begin in December 2023 and continue through 2025 as part of a major update to the science center. The new facility will “modernize the lab in terms of lab equipment and building infrastructure, and will also update the equipment,” with a design and layout that reflects modern pedagogy, said Holly, a Harvard spokeswoman. According to J. Jensen’s statement to Crimson magazine in March:
“Labs are being renovated in a two-step process to minimize the number of lab classes that need to be moved during the renovation process,” Jensen wrote.
Despite these efforts, students said they were still feeling the strain as several courses were still suspended.
Physical Sciences 11: Foundations and Frontiers of Modern Chemistry: A Molecular and Global Perspective, a large introductory chemistry course, was forced to completely change its laboratory format.
Previous courses required students to attend a 2.5-hour lab section once a week, but due to lab closures, the section will be split into two: wet lab and dry lab. It happened.
Some students expressed dissatisfaction with the new lab structure.
PS 11 student Aryenne Y. Rodrigo ’27 said this year’s course “has changed a lot.”
“They switched a lot of labs,” she said. “It also messed up my schedule.”
“I think it’s a different experience than all the classes we’ve shared before,” Rodrigo added.
“About half of the labs have been canceled or done online,” said Karis J. Eaton ’27, also a PS 11 student.
“A lot of the more fun and interesting labs they had planned, we weren’t able to do,” Eaton said. “It affected everyone’s attitude toward the lab, and it made the lab a little less exciting and fun, which was unfortunate.”
Chemistry 27: Organic Chemistry of Life was also affected by the laboratory renovation.
Chem 27 student Kaitlyn S. Garcia ’25 said some of the lab components have been moved to a “dry” format so students can simulate the hands-on experience of a wet lab.
“They walk us through it step-by-step to make sure we see the material and are exposed to it and understand what the process actually looks like. ,” Garcia said.
Despite the unusual changes made to the science lab in response to the science center renovation, some students said the lab’s new format offers the same benefits.
Sandhya Kumar ’26, a Chem 27 student and editor at The Crimson, wrote in an emailed statement to The Crimson that the dry lab was “just as beneficial as the wet lab.”
“It’s a pretty decent format,” Eaton said.
“I think this will allow us to have more interaction in the lab, allow us to see more things going on, and fill a gap in the dry lab,” Eaton said. Told.
“I think I still fully understand the concept because of the lab,” Rodrigo said. “I appreciate it even more because it has more applications than just a concept.”
Jensen said the Harvard project team will “continue to solicit feedback from science center users” to inform “the design and construction process.”
Some students praised the faculty’s efforts to make the most of a limited situation.
“The course staff worked hard to make it feel as normal as possible and increased the number and days of labs,” Kumar wrote.
Still, Garcia said, “I really hope that we can keep construction to a minimum going forward.”
“I think in many STEM classes, having to make unexpected course changes on short notice puts a strain on faculty and students,” she says.
—Staff writer Danielle J. Im can be reached at danielle.im@thecrimson.com.
—Staff writer Jackson C. Sennott can be reached at jackson.sennott@thecrimson.com.
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