Abstract:
Students often regard laboratory instruments as ‘black boxes’ which generate results, without understanding
their principles of operation. This lack of understanding is a concern because the correct interpretation of
analytical results and the limitations thereof is invariably based on an understanding of the mechanism
of measurement. Moreover, a number of tertiary institutions in Africa have very limited resources and
access to laboratory equipment, including that related to the field of photonics, which prevents students
from acquiring hands-on practical experience. We address both of these challenges by describing how
students can assemble a novel, low-cost spectrophotometer, called the SpecUP, which can then be
used in a range of experiments. The same kind of information can be generated as that obtained with
costly commercial spectrophotometers (albeit of a lower quality). With the SpecUP, students also have
the opportunity to vary instrumental parameters and to observe the effects these changes have on their
experimental results, allowing for enquiry-based learning of spectroscopic principles. The results obtained
for some chemistry-related spectrophotometric experiments are described for each of the two operational
modes of the SpecUP, although the instrument can be applied in fields ranging from physics to biochemistry.
