As the 21st century progresses, we are increasingly reminded of the importance of and need for green chemistry, which also leads to the corresponding need for green chemistry education. The UC Berkeley Department of Chemistry developed a green chemistry laboratory curriculum-the "General Chemistry Green Curriculum" ("GC[superscript…

This paper outlines the design of an interactive simulation of Stokes' law, which is used frequently in the study of particle sedimentation and flotation. The software application includes dynamic visualizations and statistical outputs. Descriptions of how the simulation can be used in a teaching context are provided. The application and its…

The purpose of this paper is to share the iterative process we used to design a task that elicits causal mechanistic reasoning and how the subsequent student responses can be analyzed. Our goal in this task is to strike a balance between eliciting as much student knowledge as possible without providing so much structure that the answer becomes…

Laboratory education makes up an extensive part of natural science education at universities. To support meaningful learning during laboratory work, students should prepare by carefully studying the protocols. The aim of this study was to design and evaluate a preparative learning material that focuses on protocol steps with the design goal to…

Common over-the-counter medicines can be an exciting entry point for introducing students to the interesting chemistries that they encounter in their daily lives. In this inquiry-based activity, students are tasked with using a list of given supplies and information about four medications (Aspirin, Tums, Pepto-Bismol, and Tylenol) to design three…

Studies on the efficacy of the flipped classroom structure have become more prevalent in the chemistry education research literature over the past 10 years, and the body of research that has been compiled appears to indicate flipped classroom structures positively impact student learning outcomes relative to "teaching as usual"…

Backward Design is a well-known method for curricular development in which an instructor first identifies desired learning ends and then "works backwards" to determine the necessary means to these ends. Unfortunately, its use in the design of undergraduate chemistry curricular components is not necessarily widespread. This paper will…

Fiber materials and textiles are topics of much research and study today, with efforts being made to produce fibers that are stronger, more durable, more breathable, and better for the environment. However, the production of fibers at the laboratory scale is uncommon and difficult past the prototype phase, and to a commercial fiber production…

There is a gap between the importance of certain archeological material sources and their perception, both by professionals and by the general public. Textiles, for example, are essential to understanding practices that marked daily life and rituals in the past, but they have often been extremely degraded over time, particularly in temperate…

The utilization of virtual compound libraries and virtual screening has become a routine method in drug discovery and has accelerated the research of pharmacy and translational medicine. With the development of computer-aided drug design (CADD), it is essential to incorporate virtual experiments into the education of medicinal chemistry. Herein,…

This work further implements the "elements of inquiry" approach in a first-year undergraduate laboratory course, in a two-part inquiry sequence. In the first part of the sequence, students iteratively develop a "best-practice" TLC procedure. In the second part, students iteratively optimize a simple organic reaction using TLC,…

Metabolism is always a challenging topic in biochemistry. In our project, a courseware called "Metabolism Metro" was developed. "Metabolism Metro" is a self-learning tool which aims to facilitate students learning of metabolic pathways in an interactive and easy-to-understand manner. The courseware includes both pre-class and…

Chemical thinking is a powerful tool for making sense of the material world and acting on it. But developing competence in chemical thinking may be challenging for students as it varies in several dimensions. This contribution seeks to guide and help chemistry educators in the design of learning experiences that support the development of…

The present paper analyzes and discusses specific methodological aspects instrumental in promoting the teaching of Green Chemistry (GC); it examines proposals and teaching experience reports from 284 papers published in the "Journal of Chemical Education" (JChemEd), until 2019. Using Discursive Textual Analysis and drawing upon previous…

The undergraduate transfer process has well-documented challenges, especially for those who identify with groups historically excluded from science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs. Because transfer students gain later access to university networking and research opportunities than first-time-in-college students, transfer…