Engineering design courses are particularly challenging to deliver in online or distance modalities because of the hands-on, collaborative nature of the design process and the need for physical resources and work spaces. In this work, we describe how we rapidly transformed two design courses in the middle two years of the biomedical engineering…

Describes techniques for the preparation of simple soaps and detergents that can be used, by students, to investigate their properties and the differences between the two classes of compounds. (AL)

Describes a laboratory teaching method that utilizes open-ended investigations that are meaningful and relevant, yet do not demand excessive amounts of the student's time. (MLH)

In a senior modern physics laboratory, design" or ingenuity" experiments were introduced to acquaint students with methods of doing complete experiments. The former deals with proposed long term studies while the latter deals with apparatus and short term actual studies. Students rated the design" experiments higher. (Author/TS)

Describes methods and procedures for killing, preserving, mounting, and displaying insects. (JR)

A group of introductory college biology students using microscopic slides was compared to another group viewing photographic transparencies in addition to the microscopic slides. Students taught without the supplementary aids performed significantly better on examination questions dealing with the laboratory portion of the course. This unexpected…

Describes an advanced undergraduate materials science course in which each student conducts two independent laboratory projects and is required to submit a formal lab report at the end of each project. (MLH)

Discusses the vicious circle of perpetuating traditional practices in the use of laboratory organisms. Makes a plea for biology teachers to use new organisms for new tasks, indigenous organisms rather than imported ones, living organisms rather than dead, and organisms to explicate principles rather than as sources of stultifying detail. (JR)