Hands-on learning is a staple in high school science education, as it provides students with a fast-learning curve and a great degree of field competency. However, due to the safety risks associated with high school students in university chemistry laboratory settings, high school students rarely engage in authentic hands-on chemical learning. To…

Students often enter chemistry laboratory courses with a well-documented disconnect between their experiences outside the classroom and the procedures, concepts, and techniques that occur in our courses. Strong base, weak acid titration experiments are present in general chemistry laboratories but also relate to foods our students are familiar…

Affect and emotions matter to science learning. They also matter because they are integral to science identity formation and sense of belonging. This study aims to foreground the epistemic and affective character of laboratory work in higher science education by conceptualizing it as epistemic practice, in which students activate their body and…

In a technology-enhanced learning environment and underpinned by a unique hybrid pedagogic model that borrows from gamification, constructivism, and experiential learning approaches, badges were purposefully used to foster engagement. This approach promoted the development of a mindset that identifies and appreciates the worth of a portfolio of…

The human nose is a very sensitive detector and is able to detect potent aroma compounds down to low ng/L levels. These levels are often below detection limits of analytical instrumentation. The following laboratory exercise is designed to compare instrumental and human methods for the detection of volatile odor active compounds. Reference…

Introducing research in undergraduate biology studies may contribute to creating research vocations and generate the idea that science may influence all aspects of common life. However, laboratory practices are too often disconnected from current investigations and rarely address real-life questions that are really interesting for students.…

Natural products play a critical role in modern organic synthesis and learning synthetic techniques is an important component of the organic laboratory experience. In addition to traditional one-step organic synthesis laboratories, a multistep natural product synthesis is an interesting experiment to challenge students. The proposed three-step…

Remote and virtual laboratories are increasingly prevalent alternatives to the face-to-face laboratory experience; however, the question of their learning outcomes is yet to be fully investigated. There are many presumptions regarding the effectiveness of these approaches; foremost amongst these assumptions is that the experience must be "real" to…

A guided-inquiry exercise conducted in both the lecture and laboratory components of a college introductory chemistry course for non-science majors is described. The exercise gave students the opportunity to independently determine the relationship between the temperature of water in an aluminum soda can and the intensity of implosion upon placing…

It is challenging for biomedical engineering programs to incorporate an indepth study of the systemic interdependence of cells, tissues, and organs into the rigorous mathematical curriculum that is the cornerstone of engineering education. To be sure, many biomedical engineering programs require their students to enroll in anatomy and physiology…

Materials science can be taught by applying organic light-emitting electrochemical thin-film devices and in this method students were allowed to make a light-emitting device by spin coating a thin film containing ruthenium (II) complex ions onto a glass slide. Through this laboratory method students are provided with the opportunity to learn about…

Micropipetting is an important skill that plays a very active and critical role in the molecular biology laboratory. It is imperative for a person handling micropipettor to know the correct way of using it so that accurate and precise results are achieved.

Presents a procedure by which cytokinins are used to induce a population of dividing and differentiating cells on the cut surface of the roots of an intact plant. Includes the method used, results, and suggestions for a variety of variables that may be tested. (RT)

Presents an exercise which was designed to help students read material and follow directions more appropriately when performing laboratory activities. Provides a list of materials, instructions, comments, vocabulary words, and a diagrammatical sketch of an insect. (RT)

Describes two simple procedures allowing students to experiment with living membranes and to relate their results to fundamental membrane structure. Provides instructions for determining the effects of temperature and organic solvent stress on cellular membranes, and spectrophotometric analysis. (RT)