New Perspectives in Science Education

By the time undergraduate students reach third or fourth year of chemistry-based laboratory courses they usually have acquired a range of skills from risk assessment and good laboratory practice through to report writing. As they become more independent in their learning, they may grow in confidence in the laboratory situation, and they often benefit from working in small groups as well as individually, utilising active learning principles.  However, they may have little savoir faire with regard to laboratory design, product development and business skills like sales and marketing. Indeed, they probably even have very little cognisance of the cost of chemicals and general operation of a laboratory. This paper describes a team-based mini-project that has been developed over a number of years to give students some knowledge of business and entrepreneurship in science. The students extract an active principle and then make prototypes, carry out market research, design a brand and plan to market a product developed from formulations with the active principle. They investigate the protocols that have to be followed to be able to manufacture and licence the product. The project work also allows the further development of transferable skills like team-work and communication. The activities have been developed using a number of sources of material, not least from the Royal Society of Chemistry, and the paper provides a bibliography of sources that teachers might utilise and adapt to their own project needs.