Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) are a class of porous materials that are often crystalline with high surface area and structural tunability. In this laboratory experiment designed for inorganic chemistry students at the undergraduate level, students complete a two-step experiment where they will first (i) synthesize two isostructural…

The teaching and learning of chemistry can be challenging due to the complex and abstract nature of the subject matter. Traditional methods of instruction often struggle to engage students and facilitate an understanding of essential chemical concepts. To address this, an innovative card game, "Compound Chain", was developed and…

The social distancing measures introduced to prevent the spread of COVID-19 have led to the rapid redesign of chemistry instruction in higher education from face-to-face to online delivery. The design, implementation, and evaluation of a redeveloped undergraduate level course on catalysis which was delivered to 188 students (including 22 natural…

Here we share results from a larger study of professional development (PD) provided to faculty at Research I Urban University (RIUU), where STEM faculty modeled active learning strategies and provided ready-to-use STEM materials to teaching staff. Data from 94 STEM faculty, who comprised 27% of the total participants (N = 340), demonstrated a…

Creating instructional activities and assessments that align with expected learning outcomes can improve student learning. Communicating learning expectations to students may lead to better student performance and an increase in student perceptions of the fairness of the assessment tools. One tool for communicating learning outcomes is the…

Despite recent interest in online learning, systematic comparisons of online learning environments with traditional classroom environments are limited, particularly in the sciences. Here, we report on a systematic comparison of an online and face-to-face classroom for a sophomore-level, lecture-only introductory inorganic chemistry course that is…

The plan view is used in crystallography and materials science to show the positions of atoms in crystal structures. However, it is not widely used in teaching general chemistry. In this contribution, we introduce the plan view, and show these views for the simple cubic, body-centered cubic, face-centered cubic, hexagonal close packed, CsCl, NaCl,…

Asymmetric transfer hydrogenation is an important transformation for the production of fine chemicals. Traditionally, platinum group metals are used to catalyze this reaction, but recent pressure for greener practices has driven the development of base-metal catalysts. Due to the growing interest in this area of research, the underlying concepts…

The organometallic complex Fe[subscript 2](µ-S[subscript 2])(CO)[subscript 6] has interesting biological implications. The concepts of bio-organometallic chemistry are rarely discussed at the undergraduate level, but this experiment can start such a conversation and, in addition, teach valuable synthetic techniques. The lab experiment takes a…

Chunk-based strategy and mnemonics have been developed to write ground state electron configurations of elements, which is a routine exercise for the higher secondary (pre-university) level general chemistry students. To assimilate a better understanding of the nature of chemical reactions, an adequate knowledge of the periodic table of elements…

We describe an alternative educational approach for an inorganic chemistry laboratory module named "Experimentation in Chemistry", which is included in Industrial Engineering and Chemical Engineering courses. The main aims of the new approach were to reduce the high levels of failure and dropout on the module and to make the content match the…

Examines the usefulness of cyclic voltammetry to the determination of a complex compound's stoichiometry. Discusses the experimental design, laboratory equipment, and results. (CW)

Describes a study of students' ability to balance equations. Answers to a test on this topic were analyzed to determine the level of understanding and processes used by the students. Presented is a method to teach this skill to high school chemistry students. (CW)

Demonstration of chemical reactions is a tool used in the teaching of inorganic descriptive chemistry to enable students to understand the fundamental concepts of chemistry through the use of concrete examples. For maximum benefit, students need to learn through discovery to observe, interpret, hypothesize, and draw conclusions; however, chemical…