Acid-base titration concepts and experiments are ubiquitous, yet challenging, aspects of the general chemistry curriculum. Most general chemistry courses include at least one acid-base titration laboratory experiment, though the focus is often on determining the concentration, pK[subscript a], or molar mass of an analyte rather than on the details…

A practical focusing on the synthesis, isolation, and hydrolysis of ammonia borane (AB), H[subscript 3]N·BH[subscript 3], was developed for first-year undergraduate students. By requiring students to propose their own experimental setup to measure the amount of gas produced upon hydrolysis, experimental design skills were introduced and developed…

Experimental design is a desirable outcome of laboratory education. Incorporating inquiry into the laboratory curriculum is attractive, but there are acknowledged concerns from practical, theoretical, and epistemological perspectives, and these are accentuated in upper-division courses. In this work, we draw on the extensive literature relating to…

It is essential to teach students about experimental design, as this facilitates their deeper understanding of how most biological knowledge was generated and gives them tools to perform their own investigations. Despite the importance of this area, surprisingly little is known about what students actually learn from designing biological…

Researchers, instructors, and funding bodies in biology education are unanimous about the importance of developing students' competence in experimental design. Despite this, only limited measures are available for assessing such competence development, especially in the areas of molecular and cellular biology. Also, existing assessments do not…

Student-centered education involving research experiences or inquiry have been shown to help undergraduate students understand, and become excited about, the process of scientific investigation. These benefits are particularly important for students in the early stages of their degree (Report and Kenny,…

The design and implementation of an advanced guided-inquiry experiment for the organic laboratory is described. Grubbs's second-generation catalyst is used to effect the ring-closing metathesis of diethyl diallylmalonate. The reaction is carried out under an inert atmosphere at room temperature and monitored by argentic TLC. The crude reaction is…

This project is conducted by students during the second semester of their second year in our educational institution. This project constitutes an initiation into research and allows a broadening of knowledge, a development in autonomy, organization, team work, and initiative. It helps prepare the student-engineer for an internship in industry. The…

Inquiry-based labs have been shown to greatly increase student participation and learning within the biological sciences. One challenge is to develop effective lab exercises within the constraints of large introductory labs. We have designed a lab for first-year biology majors to address two primary goals: to provide effective learning of the…

The emergence of molecular tools in multiple disciplines has elevated the importance of undergraduate laboratory courses that train students in molecular biology techniques. Although it would also be desirable to provide students with opportunities to apply these techniques in an investigative manner, this is generally not possible in the…

Cognition is a general term describing the mental capacities of an animal, and often includes the ability to categorize, remember, and communicate about objects in the environment. Numerous regions of the telencephalon (cerebral cortex and limbic system) are responsible for these cognitive functions. Although many researchers have used traditional…

Discusses simulation program to aid in the design of enzyme kinetic experimentation (includes sample runs). Concentration versus time profiles of any subset or all nine states of reactions can be displayed with/without simulated instrumental noise, allowing the user to estimate the practicality of any proposed experiment given known instrument…