Building a bridge to a student-centred learning environment in Instrumental Analysis

Nowadays, the keywords of analytical science have changed from the classical chemical analysis period to the modern instrumental analysis period. Instrumental analysis is a metrological science that develops, optimizes and applies strategic, methodological and instrumental tools intended to derive chemical information and solve real-world problems (Valcárcel Cases 2001). In other words, it is actually a ‘self-contained’ interdiscipline which develops from a wide array of ‘feeders’ in science and technology, including mathematics, physics, biology, engineering, computer science and other chemistry, then provides information about the objects and systems in these social precincts via research, education and real problem-solving. Obviously, the research and development of analytical tools, processes and methods are the primary sources of the teaching materials used by this discipline. As a consequence, education in an instrumental analysis course should establish effective links with the social and economic areas that generate analytical problems in order to accurately identify the information required, and give students an opportunity to become competent in their professional careers with the techniques and instrumentation used in contemporary analytical chemistry.