Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) play an essential role in the teaching of introductory chemistry courses at many higher education institutions. On the basis of best practices suggested by the literature, we developed our GTA training course to focus on modeling best practices in the classroom, providing opportunities for incoming GTAs to try…

Demonstration models allow students to readily grasp theory and relate difficult concepts and equations to real life. However drawbacks of using these demonstration models are that they are can be costly to purchase from vendors or take a significant amount of time to build. These two limiting factors can pose a significant obstacle for adding…

iSchlenk, a portable instructional cart with equipment for hands-on student experience in safe handling of air-sensitive, moisture-sensitive, toxic, pyrophoric, and/or radioactive chemical materials, is described. The cart, for use by =4 students, has compressed air and vacuum from a diaphragm vacuum pump supplied to 4 three-port Schlenk lines…

At the authors' public liberal arts institution, biology masters students are required to enroll in BIOL 5050: Teaching Techniques. Course topics include designing effective lectures, assessment, classroom management, diversity in the classroom, and active learning strategies. The impact of this type of training on graduate students' attitudes and…

Eric Ribbens is a professor in the Department of Biological Sciences at Western Illinois University in Macomb, Illinois. In this piece, he writes of his observations about the first day of school. After the summer quiet is replaced with noise, motion, smells, and anticipation, students shuffle through the halls again, and all over the building…

For the past 20 years the author has taught an Honors College course combining astronomy and the humanities. The purpose of this note is to give examples of methods that can be adapted to classroom use for topics including night sky paintings by Vincent van Gogh, Edvard Munch, and Claude Monet, historical events influenced by astronomical factors,…

The idea of ''flipping the classroom'' to make class time more engaging and student-centred has gained ground in recent years. The lecture portion of General Chemistry I and General Chemistry II courses were pushed outside the classroom using pre-recording technology and streaming delivery of content, in order to make in-class time more…

Current educational reform calls for increased integration between science and mathematics to overcome the shortcomings in students' quantitative skills. Data Nuggets (free online resource, http://datanuggets.org) are worksheets that bring data into the classroom, repeatedly guiding students through the scientific method and making claims…

This column provides original articles on innovations in case study teaching, assessment of the method, as well as case studies with teaching notes. The author shares the strategies and tools that teachers can use to manage a case study classroom effectively.

The biology education community focuses a great deal of time and energy on issues of "what" students should be learning in the modern age of biology and then probing the extent to which students are learning these things. There has been increased focus over time on the "how" of teaching, with attention to questioning the…

The cAcL[subscript 2] approach (concept Advancement through chemistry Lab-Lecture) incorporates three major educational methodologies into one: a student-centered approach, the full integration of lecture and laboratory formats, and hands-on activity based-instruction. This format has been tested for cognitive and attitudinal gains in students and…

This paper summarizes variations in instructors' implementation practices during Peer Instruction (PI) and shows how these differences in practices shape different norms of classroom interaction. We describe variations in classroom norms along three dimensions of classroom culture that are integral to Peer Instruction, emphasis on: (1)…

In this paper, instructional strategies for sustaining model-based inquiry in an undergraduate chemistry class were analyzed through data collected from classroom observations, a student survey, and in-depth problem-solving sessions with the instructor and students. Analysis of teacher-student interactions revealed a cyclical pattern in which…

Previous research [Lorenzo et al., Am. J. Phys. 74, 118 (2006)] demonstrated that the difference in performance between male and female students can be reduced and even eliminated, in consistent fashion, by using interactive engagement techniques in the introductory physics classroom. The present paper describes similar studies in a different,…

Lists postulates on which the author bases his approach to large class instruction. Suggestions are given for such administrative, operational, and academic procedures as organizing handouts and class information; avoiding "busy work"; finding out about the students (personal and academic); making an assignment due every class; and providing quick…