Purpose: Hands-on training in tissue engineering is often associated with specialized labs and expensive equipment, such as CO[subscript 2] incubators. To minimize the use of costly commercial incubators and provide a more vivid engineering experience in a biology lab, we present a hands-on project that introduces medium to large groups of…

Providing hands-on practical education without access to laboratories during the COVID-19 pandemic has required creativity and innovation. In this paper, co-authored by academic staff and students, we describe an at-home mobile phone-based 'spectrophotometer' experiment used in an introductory undergraduate biology course. Using colour picker…

The COVID-19 pandemic posed significant challenges for practical teaching within the sciences. While many instructors adopted innovative alternatives to conventional practicals, many relied on digital approaches that did not give students hands-on experience. In this study we evaluate the use of 'at home' practical kits used in first year physics…

The contamination of wastewater with metals and the use of biotechnologies to remove them is commonly discussed in theoretical biology, microbiology and biotechnology classes aimed at undergraduate students. This work introduces an easy, economical and safe practical laboratory class related to this topic. The practice consists in performing batch…

Active learning pedagogies offer opportunities to increase student engagement and interest in plants. The Mystery Plant Project is a hands-on, semester-long active learning pedagogy I developed for an introductory, undergraduate Plant Biology course. Students investigate various aspects of their mystery plant species using observations, and…

Hands-on, inquiry-based laboratory activities are excellent opportunities to introduce first-year undergraduate students to the lab environment and to catalyze new interest in topics they may not yet know or be as enthusiastic about studying. We describe a multisession introductory laboratory activity that couples the research areas of medicinal…

The concepts of phospholipase activity is often taught in undergraduate biology and biochemistry classes and reinforced in laboratory exercises. However, very rarely does the design of these exercises allow students to directly gain experience in the use of modern instruments such as digital imaging systems and fluorescence spectrophotometers. The…

The primary learning objectives of this "Next Generation Science Standards" (NGSS; NGSS Lead States 2013) aligned activity is to help high school biology students experience firsthand the role of replication in scientific inquiry and food preference as a behavioral reproductive trait of the Madagascar hissing cockroach. The secondary…

This research reports the assessment of pre-service teachers' reception and attitudes towards virtual laboratory experiments in Life Sciences with the aim of advancing adaptability to digital learning. Using sequential mixed-methods in a quasi-experimental design, 68 pre-service teachers in the 3rd year of a Bachelor of Education (B.Ed) program…

Metabolomics is a key discipline in systems biology, together with genomics, transcriptomics, and proteomics. In this omics cascade, the metabolome represents the biochemical products that arise from cellular processes and is often regarded as the final response of a biological system to environmental or genetic changes. The overall screening…

The concepts of protein purification are often taught in undergraduate biology and biochemistry lectures and reinforced during laboratory exercises; however, very few reported activities allow students to directly gain experience using modern protein purification instruments, such as Fast Protein Liquid Chromatography (FPLC). This laboratory…

A five-week, research-based experiment suitable for second-semester introductory organic laboratory students is described. Each student designs, prepares, and analyzes a combinatorial array of six aromatic oligoamides. Molecules are prepared on solid phase via a six-step synthetic sequence, and purities and identities are determined by analysis of…

Bioprocess engineering is a highly interdisciplinary field of study which is strongly benefited by practical courses where students can actively experience the interconnection between biology, engineering, and physical sciences. This work describes a lab course developed for 2nd year undergraduate students of bioprocess engineering and related…

A 45 MHz benchtop NMR spectrometer is used to identify the structures and determine the amount of 1-bromoethylbenzene and 1,1-dibromoethylbenzene produced from free-radical bromination of ethylbenzene. The experiment is designed for nonchemistry majors, specifically B.S. Biology students, in a predominantly undergraduate institution with…

Guided-inquiry lab activities with bean beetles ("Callosobruchus maculatus") teach students how to develop hypotheses, design experiments, identify experimental variables, collect and interpret data, and formulate conclusions. These activities provide students with real hands-on experiences and skills that reinforce their understanding of the…