In both general chemistry and analytical chemistry courses, students are introduced to the concept of predominant species in solution when discussing acid/base chemistry. Speciation diagrams are often used to illustrate the concept and predict the relative abundance of species in solution. Herein, we describe a laboratory experiment for an…

In many introductory physics classes, diffraction of light is introduced first, then more advanced diffraction topics such as x-ray diffraction, Bragg's law, and crystallography are covered. Since using x-rays raises safety concerns and atomic spacing in a crystal is not easy to change, microwaves with macroscopic crystals have been used to study…

A simple experiment was developed to introduce students to the sustainable procurement of water through fog harvesting that can be used for drinking or irrigation purposes. Access to clean water and sanitation is problematic particularly within dry regions such as in areas of Peru, although there is a significant amount of fog in the mountainous…

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…

Laboratory report assignments for non-major and introductory classes can be challenging because the students are unfamiliar with the type of technical writing required and the subject matter. These issues for the student make the grading for the instructor difficult and time consuming. Determining the level of detail to require, the format, and…

In 1919, Eddington and Dyson led two famous expeditions to measure the bending of light during a total solar eclipse. The results of this effort led to the first experimental confirmation of Einstein's General Relativity and contributed to create its unique and enduring fame. Since then, similar experiments have been carried out all around the…

We describe an educational activity that can be done by using smartphones to collect data in physics experiments aimed to measure the oscillating period of a spring-mass system and the elastic constant of the helicoidal spring by the dynamic method. Results for the oscillating period and for the elastic constant of the spring agree very well with…

A versatile experiment is described for the high school and college laboratory setting based on the synthesis of biobased polymers prepared from inexpensive, renewable, and nonhazardous chemicals. Combinations of readily available citric acid, glycerol, and tapioca root starch are used to prepare three polymeric materials with different observable…

This paper describes a student laboratory in the Unit Operations Laboratory at the Colorado School of Mines: air separation by pressure swing adsorption. The flexibility of the system enables students to study the production of enriched nitrogen or oxygen streams. Automatic data acquisition permits the study of cycle steps and performance.…

In a recent "AstroNote," I described a simple exercise on the mass-luminosity relation for main sequence stars as an example of exposing students in a general education science course of lower mathematical level to the use of quantitative skills such as collecting and analyzing data. Here I present another attempt at a meaningful…

Due to the conditions imposed worldwide by the pandemic, students' access to school laboratories is limited, if not impossible. To provide students with raw experimental data to assess, analyse and reason out, we have filmed experiments that can be used in a flipped classroom. This paper presents an experiment which makes use of an array of six…

Citizen science projects have been found to increase scientific knowledge and awareness among the participants who engage in these collaborative efforts. Providing elementary students the opportunity to collect, share, and analyze data is an effective way to help them develop a deeper understanding of scientific concepts and gain competency in…

A laboratory experiment in which students study the kinetics of the Viscozyme-L-catalyzed hydrolysis of cellulose and starch comparatively was designed for an upper-division biochemistry laboratory. The main objective of this experiment was to provide an opportunity to perform enhanced enzyme kinetics data analysis using appropriate informatics…

National Geography Standard 1 requires that students learn:"How to use maps and other geographic representations, geospatial technologies, and spatial thinking to understand and communicate information" (Heffron and Downs 2012). These concepts have real-world applicability. For example, elevation contour maps are common in many…

Understanding how scientific conclusions are drawn from data is central to learning about the nature of science. Many students struggle with aspects of reasoning from data, including identifying relationships among variables, interpreting graphs, coordinating theory and evidence, and not allowing personal beliefs to outweigh the data when forming…