An introductory student-centred class to teach concepts related to spectrophotometry in a biochemistry practical laboratory course

Students were asked to investigate ways of determining the concentration of a coloured compound by various methods, including spectrophotometry. This was put to them as a problem-solving challenge rather than being presented as a cook-book type of protocol. Their responses to this method of learning (active or passive) were evaluated. Some students did well by this method and developed their concepts in a constructive way while others would have preferred to have been given a protocol and told exactly what to do.