Sustainable Laboratories with Green Flow Chemistry and Novak’s Meaningful Learning

Abstract

As flow chemistry emerges as a pivotal technology for achieving sustainable development goals (SDGs), integrating it into the undergraduate curriculum requires an understanding of the total student experience. This study applies Novak’s theory of meaningful learning to evaluate the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor experiences of 82 students in a green flow chemistry laboratory. Data from a 15-item Likert survey and open-ended responses reveal a strikingly asymmetric learning profile: while students reported high cognitive engagement (mean = 4.30) and strong intrigue with the equipment (mean = 4.49), their psychomotor confidence was markedly lower (mean = 3.60). Notably, students expressed high attraction to the equipment (positive affect) alongside persistent intimidation and low confidence in data-driven decision-making (psychomotor). These results suggest that while green chemistry principles serve as effective cognitive and affective anchors for student interest, the technical novelty of flow systems creates a psychomotor threshold that current single-session formats do not fully bridge. Our findings demonstrate that measuring only cognition and affect would obscure this bottleneck, underscoring the importance of independently assessing all three domains. We propose that prelab familiarization activities, distributed multisession exposure, and explicit linking of experimental steps to green chemistry principles can support the development of technically confident sustainable chemists.