Laboratory Activities and Students Practical Performance: The Case of Practical Organic Chemistry I Course of Haramaya University

The major objective of this study was to offer an overview of the current situation in the course practical organic chemistry I of Haramaya University. All first year second semester chemistry students, laboratory instructors and Practical Organic Chemistry I course material were involved as the main source of data. The main instruments used to collect the necessary data were questionnaires and content analysis of the course material. Observation was another instrument of data collection. Qualitative and quantitative methods were employed to analyze data. The results indicated that the majority of the activities have lower inquiry level of one and the dominant practical work identified was demonstration type activity. Moreover laboratory instructors and students ranked the most important objective of the manual—to demonstrate materials taught in lecture—least. Based on these findings certain recommendations were forwarded.