Lakes are artists' pigments made from colorants bound to an inert substrate, usually hydrated aluminum oxide. Before the late 19th century, lakes were made from natural pigments extracted from plants and insects, extracted either directly from the dyestuff or indirectly from waste materials generated in the manufacture of dyed textiles. The first…

A one-pot multicomponent synthesis of unsymmetrical indole-substituted methane derivative based on two consecutive reactions of p-methylbenzaldehyde with N-methylindole and 5,5-dimethyl-1,3-cyclohexanedione is described as an experiment that was carried out by second-year undergraduate chemistry students individually in a laboratory classroom. The…

By hosting a college students' laboratory skills contest, we provide an interesting activity for students to cultivate good laboratory practices and thereby improve their laboratory skills. The substance of this contest is the detection of the hardness of water, which involves numerous laboratory skills such as solution preparation, weight by…

Chemists have always designed and deployed cross-disciplinary approaches that interface chemistry with other disciplines to proffer solutions to many human problems. We designed a laboratory experiment that implements chemistry concepts in a biological model to prime undergraduate students to appreciate interdisciplinarity as an approach to…

Interdisciplinary experiments within chemistry are very important for the improvements in the overall quality of the education received by students. In this work, we describe an interdisciplinary experiment that was successfully completed by undergraduate students. This training integrates multiple disciplines including natural product medicinal…

To optimize learning experience and improve learning performance, current virtual experimental systems usually assist students with stepwise guidance before operations and feedback after them. However, stepwise and excessive guidance can lead to student overreliance, while late feedback cannot avoid potential errors during experimental learning.…

A fluorometer is a device that measures the spectroscopic properties of fluorescent materials, and fluorometry is used widely in chemistry research settings to characterize fluorescent samples. One of the obstacles faced by undergraduate programs looking to implement fluorometer-based experiments into their laboratory curriculum is the high cost…

With the benefits of low cost, energy efficiency, and environmental protection, photocatalytic hydrogen production is considered to be the most promising technology for the development of a clean and sustainable society. However, the utilization of photocatalytically generated hydrogen is not very common yet. Therefore, tertiary education urgently…

Experimental design is a desirable outcome of laboratory education. Incorporating inquiry into the laboratory curriculum is attractive, but there are acknowledged concerns from practical, theoretical, and epistemological perspectives, and these are accentuated in upper-division courses. In this work, we draw on the extensive literature relating to…

A novel technology that employs computer vision (CV) to carry out an automatic titration experiment is presented. The experiment is designed to facilitate understanding of the basics of the CV technology and its application in chemistry among undergraduate students. The standard chemical procedure of titration has been chosen, since it is…

A straightforward synthesis of 2-phenylimidazo[1,2-a]pyridine is described. The reaction is designed to demonstrate to students the preparation of a bridged N-heterocycle, in which the heteroatom occupies a bridgehead position. The product is obtained in moderate to high yield and is highly crystalline. The compound can be purified either by…

Research-based learning motivates students to identify with different subjects. The orientation program MINTgrün at Technische Universität Berlin offers two study semesters for open choices of teaching modules, including a series of specially designed laboratories covering topics like robotics, construction, environmental research, programming,…

Online prelaboratory videos and quizzes were prepared for all experiments in CHEM 231, Organic Chemistry I Laboratory. It was anticipated that watching the videos would help students be better prepared for the laboratory, decrease their anxiety surrounding the laboratory, and increase their understanding of the theories and concepts presented.…

The authors examined college students' perceptions about their middle school and high school preparation for college science courses as well as what led them to study or not study science in college. Analysis of a survey using mixed methods revealed that the more laboratory techniques students felt proficient in conducting and the more science AP…

In delivering chemistry courses by distance, a key challenge is to offer the learner an authentic and meaningful laboratory experience that still provides the rigour required to continue on in science. To satisfy this need, two distance general chemistry laboratory courses appropriate for Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) students, including chemistry…