A remote laboratory that measures the enthalpy of vaporization ([delta]"H"[subscript vap]°) and the entropy of vaporization ([delta]"S"[subscript vap]°) of "n"-octane was designed, constructed, and offered to second-year physical chemistry undergraduates at the University of New England (UNE) and Curtin University.…

Academic writing is an important skill in the development of researcher identity yet remains a hurdle to many. In this study, we examine the ways in which the exchange of social capital occurs in a writing group in Australia. We use Bourdieu's theoretical concepts to examine data obtained from open-ended questions in an online survey that asked…

There is considerable literature describing the use of Change Laboratory as a simultaneous research and intervention methodology in workplace settings. However, there is limited literature describing Change Laboratory from the researcher-facilitator perspective. This paper examines the ethical dimensions of Change Laboratory from this perspective…

Previous work at Monash University has shown that students recognise that inquiry-, problem-, context- and industry-based experiments were better contextualised, more open to decision making and aided in the development of scientific and transferable skills. This study investigated whether these gains persisted over a longer time scale, rather…

Science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) students are typically taught content delivered didactically and closely aligned with the laboratory demonstration of concepts, which facilitates the development of experimental skills. Because of the volume of content delivered across multiple courses, student cognitive abilities can be…

Purpose: Universities have recognized their rich endowments in research, academic skills and facilities, as uniquely suited to finding "green" solutions. Moreover, the campus setting itself presents as a microcosm of greater society through which to investigate and test innovations. Thus, the "living lab" was born, a means of…

The laboratory instruction sheet (sometimes called a laboratory manual), together with the equipment used by students, is an essential resource for laboratory work. It has a direct influence over all the interactions that can occur in the laboratory activity, of which student-equipment is the only common synchronous interaction in both…

Since the sudden emergence of COVID-19 global pandemic, all educational institutions have looked to move resources and delivery online. Some institutions had already embraced delivering instruction in this way; however, broader adaptation to this teaching style is new to many educators. While the teaching of theoretical concepts is more easily…

Postgraduate research students have poorer mental health than the general community. Improving their experiences of diversity, inclusion, and belonging at university may bolster their overall wellbeing and reduce poor mental health outcomes. The aim was to explore postgraduate research students' views on diversity, inclusion, and belonging, to…

This article describes a program that was developed to introduce senior high school students in Melbourne, Australia to the technique of X-ray crystallography within the context of chemistry research. Students had an opportunity for original experimentation, performing reactions and attempting to grow crystals of reaction products in a school…

To deliver a comprehensive learning experience while shifting to online teaching due to COVID-19, educators at The University of Queensland (Australia) adopted Lt, a cloud-based platform, to overcome the challenges of delivering animal anatomy practicals. A two-phased study was conducted to evaluate the use of Lt for both online and on-campus…

Virtual and augmented (VAR) technology is in the early stages of being adopted as a teaching platform in higher education. The technology can facilitate immersive learning in environments that are not usually physically accessible to students via 3D models and interactive 360° videos. To date, adoption rates of VAR technology for teaching have not…

Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand (AANZ) medical schools have been impacted by curricular changes and the introduction of virtual microscopy (VM). No survey has explicitly described the outcome of these events on histology education in AANZ. This study provides a cross-sectional overview of histology education in accredited medical schools across…

Lab orientation is a vital part of learning for new students entering the university, as it provides the students with all the necessary and important information about the lab. The current orientation is manual, tedious, suffers from logistical constraints, lacks engagement, and provides no way to assess that outcomes have been achieved. This is…

Diffraction is an important phenomenon in physics. This paper describes using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) to produce cross-sectional images of iridescent seashells. When seashell cross-sections are viewed in a SEM, regular structure is seen. Seashells are a good example of a biocomposite material and good natural objects for introducing…