Recent advancements in large language models (LLMs) hold significant promise for improving physics education research that uses machine learning. In this study, we compare the application of various models for conducting a large-scale analysis of written text grounded in a physics education research classification problem: identifying skills in…

Laboratory automation and data science are valuable new skills for all chemists, but most pedagogical activities involving automation to date have focused on upper-level coursework. Herein, we describe a combined computational and experimental lab suitable for a first-year undergraduate general chemistry course, in which these topics are…

The COVID-19 pandemic has forced the Bioinformatics course to switch from on-site teaching to remote learning. This shift has prompted a change in teaching methods and laboratory activities. Students need to have a basic understanding of DNA sequences and how to analyze them using custom scripts. To facilitate learning, we have modified the course…

Distance learning in physics is still facing challenges, mainly due to the difficult access to a laboratory for practical work. Practical work is an essential part of the physics classroom because it allows students to interact with authentic physics phenomena and develop their scientific abilities. In this paper, we propose alternative…

Chemistry simulations using interactive graphic user interfaces (GUIs) represent uniquely effective and safe tools to support multidimensional learning. Computer literacy and coding skills have become increasingly important in the chemical sciences. In response to both of these facts, a series of Jupyter notebooks hosted on Google Colaboratory…

Increasingly, students training in the biological sciences depend on a proper grounding in biological statistics, data science and experimental design. As biological datasets increase in size and complexity, transparent data management and analytical methods are essential skills for undergraduate biologists. We propose that using the software R…

The COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the move to online teaching and assessment. This has created challenges in teaching laboratory skills and producing assessments that are robust and fair. Our solution was to use bespoke laboratory videos to provide laboratory training and to generate unique data sets for each student in coursework and exams. For…

We described and ran a lesson plan for a build-your-own visible-range spectrophotometer undergraduate project as inspired by the research of Bougot-Robin, Imperial College London. Students were required to improve a basic Raspberry Pi spectrophotometer design and evaluate their improvements. Students learned firsthand how to manage instrumental…