Undergraduate laboratory courses can provide opportunities for students to participate in science practices. This requires rethinking both curricula and instruction. Science practice--based courses require students to be positioned as epistemic agents, implying a shift in instructor role. Teaching assistants (TAs) are the primary instructors for…

Bacteria have developed a cell-to-cell communication system called quorum sensing (QS), allowing them to regulate group behavior and synchronize the expression of virulence factors, responsible for increasing their infection capacity and resistance to antimicrobials. Although the control of microbial infections through the inhibition of microbial…

As the 21st century progresses, we are increasingly reminded of the importance of and need for green chemistry, which also leads to the corresponding need for green chemistry education. The UC Berkeley Department of Chemistry developed a green chemistry laboratory curriculum-the "General Chemistry Green Curriculum" ("GC[superscript…

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…

Chemical reactions that mimic the function of ATP hydrolysis in biochemistry are of current interest in nonequilibrium systems chemistry. The formation of transient bonds from these reactions can drive molecular machines or generate materials with time-dependent properties. While the behavior of these systems can be complicated, the underlying…

The substitution of carbonyl compounds with liquid bromine as a brominating agent is the most commonly employed synthesis method for a-bromoacetophenone and its derivatives. However, liquid bromine possesses certain drawbacks, such as volatilization, high toxicity, strong corrosion, and poor reaction selectivity, which limit its application and…

Guided by the 5E framework (Engage, Explore, Explain, Elaborate, Evaluate), a buffer solution courseware was designed using "Articulate Rise," a content authoring tool. It was deployed in a freshman general chemistry course in the April semesters of 2022 and 2023. The courseware was a supplementary resource to support instructor-created…

Virtual experiments offer opportunities for students to engage in the scientific process and observe scientific phenomena. However, virtual experiments are not always effective for learning. The current study examined how two small manipulations might support better learning from virtual experiments and the extent to which this varied across…

In analytical chemistry, discussing different method sand techniques of analysis is essential to promote critical thinking and reasoning. Analytical courses in the chemist, pharmacist, and biochemist curricula represent the opportunity to study concepts such as experimental design, sampling, development, and optimization of protocols, data…

Calculating analytical uncertainties as a part of method validation is a relevant aspect of field and laboratory practices in instrumental analytical chemistry subjects, which usually require complex algorithms. This work describes the development and didactic use of an automatic and straightforward informatics tool, implemented in an Excel macro,…

Active learning provides students with meaningful and introspective roles in education. However, active learning is difficult to achieve in online class settings, particularly for biology laboratories initially designed to offer direct interactions with live organisms. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a transition to online learning was required in…

Both lecture and laboratory courses of biochemistry are important professional courses for undergraduates with biology related majors. Course optimization and update is crucial but challenging, especially for the laboratory course. Although taught separately, here we showed a strategy to bridge the two courses and promote the improvement of both.…

Molecular biology, broadly defined as the investigation of complex biomolecules in the laboratory, is a rapidly advancing field and as such the technologies available to investigators are constantly evolving. This constant advancement has obvious advantages because it allows students and researchers to perform more complex experiments in shorter…

Bias assessment (systematic errors) is fundamental in industry and service laboratories, where reliable results must be obtained to give correct answers to specific problems. Therefore, knowledge and practice in quality methodologies is of fundamental importance for students. Unfortunately, laboratory lessons often focus on connecting theory and…

Where does science and technology studies (STS) belong? In "A Place for Science and Technology Studies," Jane Calvert takes readers through eight different rooms--the laboratory, the conference room, the classroom, the coffee room, the art studio, the bioethics building, the policy room, and the ivory tower--investigating the…