The pharmaceutical industry relies heavily on analytical techniques for identifying and characterizing drug compounds. In this experiment, undergraduate pharmacy students explored the applications of near-infrared spectroscopy for pharmaceutical analysis and its potential for identifying patterns and relationships among pharmaceutical samples. In…

Introductory courses are often designed to cover a range of topics with the intent to offer students exposure to the given discipline as preparation to further their study in the same or related disciplines. Unfortunately, students in these courses are often presented with an overwhelming amount of information that may not support their formation…

This study aims to investigate the relationship between written and oral reasoning in an undergraduate chemistry laboratory course as part of an argument-based inquiry approach, which is also a generative learning environment, known as the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH). The study employed the data-transformation variant of convergent design of…

Student evaluations of teaching (SETs) are commonly used in performance evaluations of university faculty. However, evidence regarding the association of SETs to student learning has been inconsistent. One way to assess the connection between SETs and actual learning is to compare SETs in the first course in a sequence to student performance in…

Organic chemistry presents a significant obstacle for students seeking entry into health-related professions. Students' ability to develop effective study approaches is an important predictor of success in the course. Herein, we report an investigation utilizing an OCH-adjusted M-ASSIST instrument to assess possible changes in students' study…

The relationship between chemical structure and physical and chemical properties is essential to chemistry. Studies have shown that students have difficulty using structural representations to predict properties, which is not surprising because of the sequence of inferences that are required for sense-making. However, obtaining a nuanced model of…

This paper describes the development, final design and validation of an instrument that measures a range of student interactions and satisfaction in undergraduate chemistry laboratories. Student surveys or conceptual and attitudinal instruments are widely used techniques for collecting relevant information on student learning. However, there is a…

The Maxwell distribution of speeds, f(v), is the starting point for the calculation of the transport coefficients in kinetic-molecular theory. Most physical chemistry textbooks follow a path to derive f(v) similar to that used by Maxwell, which makes it difficult for students to understand its relationship with the equilibrium state of the system,…

First-semester general chemistry is a known "gatekeeper" course due to its high failure rate. These higher education courses are taken by students who for the most part are regularly admitted freshmen, yet many struggle to succeed. In this investigation researchers from six higher-education institutions of varied sizes with student…

The science laboratory learning environment has been a distinctive area in science education since the 19th century. Unfortunately, students are generally not aware of what science instructors expect from laboratory experiences, and far too often, the undergraduate science laboratory curriculum lacks explicit, well-defined goals. Science…

Open-ended problem-solving skills have been identified as employable skills, which undergraduate students will need to have in order to cope with real-life problems in their workplaces after graduation. However, the development and assessment of these skills have been inconsistent across courses offered in universities. This research examined…

Organic Chemistry is considered by many to be the quintessential "weeder course", widely identified in the premed and STEM persistence literature as a gatekeeper to students interested in STEM or health fields (Barr, Gonzalez, & Wanat, 2008; Lovecchio & Dundes, 2002). There has therefore been considerable interest in determining…

The two major impetuses to improve STEM education are the shift to online learning and increasing active learning and engagement. Although the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated a rapid shift to online learning, this shift came at the cost of losing on-ground active learning strategies. This study provides descriptive analytical information on the…

The move from general chemistry to organic chemistry can be a challenge for students as it often involves a transition from quantitatively-oriented to mechanistically-oriented thinking. This study found that the design of the general chemistry course can change the student experience of this transition as assessed by a reflective survey. The…

This study investigated the self-efficacy of first-year Chemistry students at a South African university. The research involved a quantitative survey of 333 students using the College Chemistry Self-Efficacy Scale (CCSS) developed by Uzuntiryaki and Capa Aydin (2009). Descriptive statistics on data for the CCSS scales suggested that students have…