Various observers have noticed what they see as a disturbing gap that has developed in high school chemistry. On the one hand, there is the precision and quantitative nature of the chemistry course and textbook. On the other, there is the often touchy feely, qualitative approach to laboratory work. Howard M. Saltsburg, a professor of chemical engineering at the University of Rochester, is among those who would reject two ways that gap might be overcome: dropping the labs or converting to computer simulation. He sees what he considers the only other alternative—applying new technology—also as the only appropriate one. What is needed in high school labs, he figures, is a word processor approach. That approach now has taken the form of a new, unique high school laboratory course package called CHEMPAC. Evolving from the university's approach to chemical engineering lab, it was devised by Saltsburg and two colleagues at Rochester ...