A version of the classic rotationally resolved infrared (IR) spectrum of a diatomic molecule experiment has been developed using the POGIL framework to more fully engage students in the collection, modeling, analysis, and interpretation of the data. An analysis of the experimental protocol reveals that the POGIL approach actively engages students…

To best prepare students for the real-world research environment, key skills, including experimental design, data analysis, communication of results, and critical thinking, should be key components of undergraduate science courses. Furthermore, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on in-person teaching has resulted in a need to develop courses that…

Flame Emission Spectroscopy (FES) is a powerful analytical technique widely used for identifying and quantifying elements in various samples. In this laboratory experiment, undergraduate students were introduced to FES and its significance in analytical chemistry. The experiment aimed to provide students with hands-on experience in constructing…

The purpose of this article is to describe the possibilities of using worksheets in the teaching of lipids and proteins. The worksheet includes a concept map, suggestions for three safe experiments that can be performed with available household chemicals, and observation results. The worksheets were implemented into action research in two classes…

This article describes a straightforward approach to deliver an enzyme assay and kinetics laboratory via online delivery methods in the time of COVID-19.

A revised version of a traditional physical chemistry laboratory experiment has been developed to enhance student discussion in the laboratory and to improve students' connections between physical chemistry concepts and real molecular systems. In this experiment, students explore the keto-enol tautomerization of 2,4-pentanedione. However, unlike…

Given student familiarity with electronic cigarettes (e-cigs), this lab uses a student-built smoke collection apparatus to collect e-cig vapors to teach students about gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Students in a second semester, introductory organic chemistry course spent 1 week collecting e-cig vapors and 1 week qualitatively…

Quantitative reasoning is a key intellectual skill, applicable across disciplines and best taught in the context of authentic, relevant problems. Here, I describe and assess a laboratory exercise that has students calculate their "carbon footprint" and evaluate the impacts of various behavior choices on that footprint. Students gather…

Experimental data are analysed statistically to allow researchers to draw conclusions from a limited set of measurements. The hard fact is that researchers can never be certain that measurements from a sample will exactly reflect the properties of the entire group of possible candidates available to be studied (although using a sample is often the…

Experimental exercises within second-year-level organic laboratory manuals typically involve a statement of a principle that is then validated by student generation of data in a single experiment. These experiments are structured in the exact opposite order of the scientific method, in which data interpretation, typically from multiple related…