Physics education researchers have called for a shift from traditional laboratory (lab) instruction to labs that focus on the development of experimental skills. Although research has demonstrated the efficacy of such reformed labs, much work remains to determine what these labs can and should teach students and how best to achieve these goals.…

In undergraduate research settings, students are likely to encounter anomalous data, that is, data that do not meet their expectations. Most of the research that directly or indirectly captures the role of anomalous data in research settings uses post-hoc reflective interviews or surveys. These data collection approaches focus on recall of past…

A revised version of a traditional physical chemistry laboratory experiment has been developed to enhance student discussion in the laboratory and to improve students' connections between physical chemistry concepts and real molecular systems. In this experiment, students explore the keto-enol tautomerization of 2,4-pentanedione. However, unlike…

Chemical engineering students need to be prepared to make process safety decisions in industry. Through analysis of the decision-making process of senior chemical engineering students, we found students would rather be "better safe than sorry" and did not often acknowledge complexities associated with their decisions. Their decisions…

Remote delivery approaches to laboratory courses in the response to the COVID-19 pandemic have included a spectrum spanning passive options such as providing students with prerecorded videos of experiments to replacing in-person laboratory experiences with immersive virtual reality environments. While interactive activities that require students…

Laboratory safety is a vital part of a chemical education and can be incorporated into courses throughout the chemistry curriculum. Discussions of laboratory safety can serve as an introduction to the important field of green chemistry. Exposure to this field can better prepare students for safer and more sustainable laboratory practices in…

At first glance, scientific laboratory experiences might appear to be challenging to move to the cloud. Skeptics may point to sensory feedback limitations and inequivalence of student outcomes. However, emerging data increasingly provide evidence that scientific laboratory courses are not only amenable to online learning, but also can deliver…

Scientists understand that no result is more important than the welfare of the investigators and the people around them. Safety culture is an integral part of industrial and academic jobs; however, safety training has only recently been added to chemistry classroom and laboratories. Chemistry laboratories expose workers to a variety of hazards,…

In the article "Understanding Writer Center Use among Community College Students," Christina Savarese addresses the reasons students use the writing center, understanding those reasons, and using them to identify ways the writing center administrators and tutors can better serve their student population. Additional research findings…

Reflection exercises have been used within anatomy education to evaluate empathy, humanism, and professionalism. A typical reflection exercise consists of directed prompts to guide the student's reflection as it relates to the experience and/or research question. The aim of this study was to utilize reflections through an open-ended format to…

Background: Previous research has indicated that it is difficult to maintain student motivation in gateway courses when students from multiple majors are taking the same course. Providing students with a choice in assignment is important because it creates a feeling that the students are in charge of their education, that they can tailor their…

Assessment is a central component of course curriculums and is used to certify student learning, but it can also be used as a tool to improve teaching and learning. Many laboratory courses are structured such that there is only a grade for a particular laboratory, which limits the insights that can be gained in student learning. We developed a…

We present an experiment designed to hone the decision-making skills of (undergraduate) chemistry students by using aqueous crossed aldol reactions. Here, we present two simple crossed aldol reactions based on inexpensive and readily available materials: The condensation of vanillin and cinnamaldehyde with acetone. The procedure uses the variation…

The laboratory is a complex environment where the three levels of the chemistry triplet coincide. As the laboratory environment places a large demand on the working memory of students, cognitive load theory can address overload which causes barriers to learning. Breaking down barriers requires iterative phases of analysis/exploration,…

A lab activity for teaching physics students the fundamentals of statistical analysis during the first few weeks of instruction is described. This activity involves students timing a pulse of light generated by an Arduino device of fixed duration with individual timers (e.g. stopwatch, iPhone timer). To select the most precise timing methods and…