Digital badges are credentials earned via a digital presentation to demonstrate the mastery of a technique. They have been utilized in General Chemistry laboratory courses as an assessment tool and to document students' development of a skill. A digital badge assignment was developed for thin layer chromatography (TLC) and integrated into a…

This technology report outlines the design and construction of a simple Arduino-based pH sensor using universal pH paper; it can be assembled for less than $40 and is ideal for use in laboratory classrooms teaching students with visual disabilities. The device is simple to construct and suitable for adoption in school chemistry laboratories…

A simple computer interface for controlling a compact spectrograph for use as a spectrophotometer in an undergraduate teaching laboratory was developed. The project was implemented on a Raspberry Pi computer which permits the integration of a light source into the software. The interface was written in Python to facilitate modification by the user…

The increasing integration of software and automation in modern chemical laboratories prompts special emphasis on two important skills in the chemistry classroom. First, students need to learn the technical skills involved in modern scientific computing and automation. Second, applying these techniques in practice requires effective collaboration…

Molecular symmetry plays a central role in chemistry education with regard to predicting chemical properties such as bonding and spectroscopic transitions. Better understanding of the symmetry of molecules requires high visual-spatial thinking ability. Conventional teaching methodologies, with limited teaching aides, fall short in providing a…

In general chemistry laboratories, students learn practical laboratory skills through hands-on activities and are exposed to new scientific instruments. However, these instruments are often viewed as black boxes for various reasons, where students do not know how to use them or what the instruments are capable of. This tendency is likely to induce…

A novel technology that employs computer vision (CV) to carry out an automatic titration experiment is presented. The experiment is designed to facilitate understanding of the basics of the CV technology and its application in chemistry among undergraduate students. The standard chemical procedure of titration has been chosen, since it is…

Virtually all modern chemical instrumentation is controlled by computers. While software packages are continually becoming easier to use, allowing for more researchers to utilize more complex instruments, conveying some level of understanding as to how computers and instruments communicate is still an important part of the undergraduate…

First order processes are of paramount importance for chemical kinetics. In a well-established demonstration experiment, the flow of water out of a vertical glass tube through a capillary simulates a chemical first order process. Here, a digital version of this experiment for lecture hall demonstrations is presented. To this end, water flowing out…

This work developed the Flint, Michigan water crisis as a modular case study for teaching traditional analytical chemistry concepts through the medium of environmental justice, power, and equity. An interdisciplinary framework was used to design, implement, and assess the case study in an effort to understand how the deliberate presence of…

The Canadian Remote Sciences Laboratories (CRSL) website (www.remotelab.ca) was successfully employed in a study of the differences in the performance and perceptions of students' about their learning in the laboratory (in-person) versus learning at a remote location (remote access). The experiment was completed both in-person and via remote…

Literacy requires reading comprehension, and fostering reading skills is an essential prerequisite to and a synergistic enabler of the development of writing skills. Reading comprehension in the chemical sciences not only consists of the understanding of text but also includes the reading and processing of data tables, schemes, and graphs. Thus,…

An undergraduate practical exercise has been designed to provide hands-on, instrument-based experience of advanced characterization techniques. A research experience approach is taken, centered around the concept of solid-state polymorphism, which requires a detailed knowledge of molecular and crystal structure to be gained by advanced analytical…

Understanding chemistry includes the ability to think on three levels: the macroscopic level, the symbolic level, and the level of particles--sub-microscopic level. Pupils have the most difficulty when trying to understand the sub-microscopic level because it is outside their range of experience. A virtual laboratory enables a simultaneous…

The gap between graduate research and introductory undergraduate teaching laboratories is often wide, but the development of teaching activities rooted within the research environment offers an opportunity for undergraduate students to have first-hand experience with research currently being conducted and for graduate students to develop…