Laboratory activities are a prevalent and essential part of chemistry learning because of their potential to help students develop problem solving abilities, visualize chemistry concepts learned in lecture, and gain practical skills. However, learning in the laboratory environment is not without its challenges. For example, cookbook-style…

Many studies have reported various interventions to increase critical thinking, but very few studies have examined the impact of learning in classrooms and laboratories. This study aimed to find a learning pattern (practice to theory or theory to practice) in improving students' critical thinking skills (CTs). Pre and posttest nonequivalent group…

This paper uses evidence-centered assessment design (ECD) to structure and analyze a laboratory activity where students collect and represent titration curve data to determine acid strength in terms of molarity and dissociation constant. Following principles of multidimensional learning, the activity prompts students to demonstrate knowledge of…

Compared to aerobic catabolism, the theories and experiments of anaerobic catabolism are not covered in depth in biochemistry education curricula. Anaerobic digestion (AD) is a feasible method for converting common organic compounds to renewable energy-methane that has drawn a great deal of attention in practical applications. In this study, we…

The COVID-19 outbreak has had a significant impact on higher education worldwide. In-person courses had to be quickly transited to online, including lab courses embedded with Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs). In response to this challenge, we successfully converted a fully in-person biochemistry lab that integrated with a…

Stress facilitates memory formation, but only when the stressor is closely linked to the learning context. These effects are, at least in part, mediated by corticosteroid hormones. Here we demonstrate that corticosterone rapidly facilitates synaptic potentiation in the mouse hippocampal CA1 area when high levels of the hormone and high-frequency…

We investigated whether postextinction administration of methylene blue (MB) could enhance retention of an extinguished conditioned response. MB is a redox compound that at low doses elevates cytochrome oxidase activity, thereby improving brain energy production. Saline or MB (4 mg/kg intraperitoneally) were administered to rats for 5 d following…