Pharmacy education should correspond to the needs of the healthcare industry through quality learning in order to produce pharmaceutical experts who can take on challenging and multidisciplinary assignments. In addition to the curriculum's content, it is necessary to pay attention to the methods used in teaching pharmacy. Recent studies clearly show that teaching methods and teaching ideology are related to learning outcomes (Kember & Kwan, 2000; Prosser, Ramsden, Trigwell & Martin, 2003). In the 'hard' sciences which include pharmacy, teachers tend to adopt a teacher-centred approach to teaching (Prosser et al., 2003; Lindblom-Ylänne, Trigwell, Nevgi & Ashwin, 2006). The result is similar to a study of pharmacy education in Finland where students are encouraged to memorise facts (Nieminen, Lindblom-Ylänne & Lonka, 2004). Teachers can help students learn more than just facts not by trying to change the students, but by changing the learning environment. This can be achieved by adopting a more student-centred approach in teaching where the teacher pays attention to students' perceptions, class activities and students' understanding of the material in the learning process.

For the module, PR2104 "Pharmaceutical Analysis I", which I taught at the Department of Pharmacy in Semester 2, Academic Year 2006/2007, second year pharmacy undergraduates were expected to learn how to analyse pharmaceuticals via the use of functional group tests such as ultraviolet (UV), infrared (IR), atomic absorption (AAS) and atomic emission spectrophotometric (AES) techniques. The contents of these subjects are generally chemistrybased and very technical. "Pharmaceutical Analysis I" comprises lectures, tutorials and practical laboratory classes. It should be not ed t hat students are often only enthusiastic about tasks and assignments if these are regarded as meaningful and important. It is therefore critical for the teacher to consciously connect theoretical concepts to real life applications. For the purpose of this paper, I will discuss and illustrate how experiments using real life products can help enhance students' learning experience in laboratory classes.

Health supplements containing natural products, vitamins and minerals are becoming increasingly popular. It is difficult not to notice ubiquitous adver tisements on these products pur por ting 'wonder cures' and 'miracles'. It is widely accepted that minerals are important for the physiological functions of the human body. A quality control (QC) laboratory session is set up to determine the amount of minerals (e.g. calcium, magnesium, zinc) present in the Berroca® effervescent tablet, a health care supplement.

The two main techniques to determine mineral composition in pharmaceuticals are AAS and AES. It is necessary to understand that the theoretical concepts of both AAS and AES in pharmaceutical analysis are relatively remote and technical for undergraduate students. In total, 103 pharmacy students have to attend 12 sessions of 3-hour laboratory classes. Each session involves about eight to nine students who are further divided into working groups of four to five students each. Prior to the start of the experiment, students are given a short briefing and a scenario where they are the QC scientists performing analysis on a batch of Berroca® effervescent tablets. Other than the short briefing and reminders, no other detailed instructions are given to students with regards to the experiment. The traditional method of teaching practical laboratory classes, which involves analysing samples or standard solutions already prepared for students, often means that students are not aware of the sample's origin and thus fail to appreciate the values of these spectrophotometric techniques in real life pharmaceutical analysis. This may result in surface rather than deep learning. The new approach of analysing the minerals in the Berocca® effervescent tablets during the practical laboratory class is likely to result in deep learning as students are handling a real life pharmaceutical product.

Results and Discussion

Students are not automatically capable of higherorder thinking just because they made it to the university. To facilitate the development of such thinking skills, it is the teacher's responsibility to create a stimulating learning environment and context. In the practical laboratory classes, students were presented with a clear picture of the potential applications of both the AAS and AES techniques that they were required to learn. The teacher concentrated on active learning methods such as discussion and group tasks so as to emphasise teacher-student interaction. The approach's outcome was positive as students were clearly motivated and participated actively in the experiments. As students were given minimum instruction for the experiments, each group had to discuss and strategise the optimal methods of achieving the goals of the experiment. This approach encouraged students towards self-directed learning. In this case, though the brief discussion among students did not require extra work, students learnt about team work and appreciated the importance of being a team player-a valuable lesson students can apply in their future careers. Students were also motivated when their experiments were acknowledged positively by the teacher. More importantly this approach made students responsible for their own learning.

During the practical laboratory classes, students were tasked to operate the instruments by themselves under the teacher's supervision. This teaching approach was important as it developed students' psychomotor skills, reinforcing what they had learnt during lectures. As the experiments helped students relate their academic knowledge to real life application, students became more aware of the value of pharmaceutical concepts and theories, and this helped students develop a passion for pharmaceutical analysis.

Further, the experiment was found to be highly suitable for undergraduate practical laboratory classes as Berocca® effervescent tablet is relatively inexpensive and readily available as an overthe- counter product in retail pharmacies. Most importantly, the tablets, unlike spiked samples, provided a meaningful linkage between the theoretical concepts and applications of AAS and AES.

In summary, the Berocca® effervescent tablet analysis experiment was suitable and feasible for the pharmacy undergraduate AAS and AES practical laboratory classes. The teaching approach connected students' academic knowledge to real life application, resulting in deep learning. As students see and understand the association between practice and theory, they learn to appreciate the significance of theories in pharmacy studies.

Acknowledgments

The author gratefully acknowledges the assistance of Mr Pasikanti Kishore Kumar (graduate student), Ms Oh Tang Booy (senior laboratory officer) and Ms Ng Sek Eng (principal laboratory officer) in the planning and implementation of the AAS and AES experiments. The author also expresses thanks to Ms Wong Li Lian (clinical pharmacy instructor) for suggesting the use of the Berocca® effervescent tablets for the practical laboratory class. Finally, the coordination of the pharmaceutical analysis module and the practical laboratory classes by Associate Professor Koh Hwee Ling is deeply appreciated.

References

Kember, D. & Kwan, K-P. (2000). 'Lecturers' Approaches to Teaching and Their Relationship to Conceptions of Good Teaching'. Instructional Science, Vol. 28, Nos. 5-6, pp. 469-490.

Lindblom-Ylänne, S.; Trigwell, K.; Nevgi, A. & Ashwin, P. (2006). 'How Approaches to Teaching are Affected by Discipline and Teaching Context'. Studies in Higher Education, Vol. 31, No. 3, pp. 285-298.

Nieminen, J.; Lindblom-Ylänne, S. & Lonka, K. (2004). 'The Development of Study Orientations and Study Success in Students of Pharmacy'. Instructional Science: An International Journal of Learning and Cognition, Vol. 32, No. 5, pp. 387-417.

Prosser, M.; Ramsden, P.; Tr igwell, K. & Mar t in, E. (2003). 'Dissonance in Experience of Teaching and Its Relation to the Quality of Student Learning'. Studies in Higher Education, Vol. 28, No. 1, pp. 37-48.