This laboratory experiment offers a research-style experience designed for senior undergraduate students in a multidisciplinary laboratory setting. The experiment focuses on the synthesis, characterization, and application of a cation-exchange membrane made of COF-SO[subscript 3]Na/PAN for ion separation. By participating in this practical…

Recent research emphasizes the need for a more sustained interaction of schools with universities and research institutions. For example, informal after-school programs integrated into the school curriculum can provide opportunities for meaningful interaction with researchers in active learning settings. At the physics department of University of…

Practical activities are at the core of learning in both engineering and science education programs. Hence, such activities are included as important practical learning experiences in each of these fields. During such learning experiences students are confronted by many different entities, from simple equipment to advanced instrumentation, all of…

Gross anatomy courses utilize cadaver dissection to teach identification, topography, and spatial relationships of organs. The deconstructive nature of dissection, however, focuses students' attention on the "big picture", followed by a discovery of details. This approach may be useful for many, however some students may prefer to…

Laboratory work in chemistry has been extensively researched in the last decade but the gap between research and practice is still broad. This "Perspective" shares 10 guiding principles relating to university laboratory education, drawing on research over the last decade. Written with an audience of practitioners in mind, the…

The activity proposed in this study aims to investigate the equilibrium between the liquid and vapor phases in a mixture of water and acetic acid, both of which are volatile substances. High school students can easily determine the composition of the liquid phase and its corresponding vapor phase at equilibrium using a simple and conceptually…

This study examined whether answering focused explanative questions during pauses in an immersive virtual reality (IVR) lesson on pipetting procedures could enhance learning. The goal was to take a generative learning activity, known to be effective for declarative knowledge with conventional media, to the context of procedural knowledge with…

The present two studies investigated whether students' development of epistemic beliefs about the educational sciences (study A; N = 152) and linguistics (study B; N = 150) can be affected by authentic learning activities in an out-of-school lab (OSL). OSLs aim to engage students in authentic activities that attempt to simulate the ways how…

Winogradsky columns were invented by Sergei Winogradsky in the 1880s and have commonly been used as a microbiology classroom learning tool in K-12 and collegiate education. However, they can be challenging to examine with microscopy. We scaled down Winogradsky columns into nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) tubes and replaced the natural sediment…

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…

Play has been discussed by mathematicians and mathematics educators as essential to mathematical progress and has been widely acknowledged to have a role in learning. Yet, play is rarely acknowledged, leveraged, or studied for mathematics learners beyond early childhood. Moreover, there are theoretical and empirical challenges with designing for…

An approach to online laboratory exercises for analytical chemistry students with demonstrated practical exercises through the use of remote-controlled gas chromatography (GC) instrumentation is discussed. The approach allows for a practical-based learning activity to be carried out by students who are unable to attend in-person laboratory…

In a technology-enhanced learning environment and underpinned by a unique hybrid pedagogic model that borrows from gamification, constructivism, and experiential learning approaches, badges were purposefully used to foster engagement. This approach promoted the development of a mindset that identifies and appreciates the worth of a portfolio of…

In this study, we analyzed how general chemistry students generated experimental designs corresponding to general chemistry questions such as the ones typically found in general chemistry textbooks. We found that students were very successful in including experimental design aspects that were explicitly mentioned in the general chemistry…

The carbonyl group of an aldehyde or ketone reacts with different types of nucleophiles through a nucleophilic addition reaction. When the nucleophile is water, the product obtained is a "gem"-diol or geminal diol. This functionalization is unstable and quickly reverts to the parent carbonyl group. The chemistry of "gem"-diols…