The COVID-19 pandemic affected a large range of in-person education activities in Colombia. This created great limitations in academic performance for students with reduced access to communication technologies and deepened the educational gaps in the country. This was particularly true for sciences such as biochemistry. In Colombia, molecular…

At the end of the 1915 Gallipoli campaign during World War 1, Lance Corporal William Scurry saved thousands of lives with his one simple invention. As the ANZAC soldiers prepared to withdraw from the disastrous 9-monthlong Gallipoli campaign, Scurry came up with the idea of setting up a large battery of rifles that would discharge automatically…

The purpose of this article is to describe a modeling sequence about the digestive system. "What happens in your body when you have lactose intolerance?" is the initial question that will guide the activities. Students will build a 3D plaster cast of the digestive system as part of a modeling cycle through which they are expected to…

We present two simple classroom exercises designed to explain challenging concepts in conformation for students beginning organic chemistry. These macroscopic demonstrations serve as analogies to bridge students' understanding of flat two-dimensional drawings to real three-dimensional molecules. In the first demonstration, an apple is drawn from…

X-rays are such an important and familiar part of the electromagnetic spectrum, but is there a way to safely bring x-rays into your lecture? The demo team at the University of California at Berkeley seems to have managed this. They have an x-ray safe box that they use to produce a live x-ray image on a fluorescent screen. In this article, we…

The experimental investigation of Newton's law of universal gravitation requires expensive and sensitive equipment. Therefore, it is often not possible to conduct such an experiment within a typical physics class. An alternative is to investigate the universal gravitation law by using simulations. In this paper, we are presenting such an augmented…

Learning endocrine physiology can be challenging. Some physiological concepts are abstract, making the process of learning more difficult for students. The comprehension of basic concepts, such as chemical hormone classification, is essential to understand the differences in synthesis, secretion, transport, and mechanism of action of hormones. To…

Modeling is an important tool in science teaching and learning. Constructing a model instead of replicating one is more meaningful and better supports student learning than analyzing premade models (Firooznia 2015; Gouvea and Passmore 2017; Takemura and Kurabayashi 2014). Models include physical replications of a scientific phenomenon or analyzing…

This STEM research project asks middle school or high school students to work towards creating ecologically friendly packaging. Packaging that can be composted instead of thrown away and collected in landfills and oceans like plastics. This inquiry uses nanocellulose and focuses on water permeability. The fibers of nanocellulose can be dried to…

We all "do"--that is, participate in--science in some way. Everyone participates in science as part of their activities of daily living, such as using soap to make hand-washing more effective, using heat to cook food, and closing windows and doors to slow the movement of heat. We may not always identify our actions as a part of…

Model-based inquiry (MBI) is an instructional framework designed around the construction, revision, and testing of models by students to make sense of and explain a phenomenon (Windschitl et al. 2008). Focusing on explaining natural phenomena provides a specific context for students to learn and apply scientific understandings to and can help…

We describe an educational activity that can be completed with mobile media devices in order to understand the working principle of a pair of tuning forks, from the Historical Collection of Physics Instruments of the University of Palermo, and how they were used to explain acoustic interference and beats with the Lissajous optical method. This…

Boasting a wide range of interactive and engaging features, narrative-based learning has become increasingly popular in educational settings. Narrative-based instructional approaches engage students in a novel set of engaging experiences for educational purposes. Although it is not a new concept, the implications of narrative-based learning for…

Lampworking is a valuable skill for students in Chemistry and others in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) related fields. The activity described here provides instructors the resources to both learn and teach the fundamentals of lampworking. Soft glass, which can be shaped and fused with a Bunsen burner, is used to improve the…

Understanding the gross organization of skeletal muscle is critical to understanding the mechanism of action of muscle physiology. Due to coronavirus disease-19 (COVID-19), many colleges have had to discontinue or curtail teaching and laboratory activities. Whether students are in the classroom or learning online, it is important for them to…