A new module designed to ease the transition from school to university was devised and implemented at Cardiff University School of Chemistry. Two iterations of the module are described, both of them conducted under restrictions imposed by COVID-19 pandemic regulations. Over a two-week period, students attended 15 different sessions, each designed…

In addressing the need for safer and more accessible chemistry lab procedures, this work integrates green chemistry and small-scale chemistry concepts to serve as a laboratory model for both qualitative and quantitative analyses of iron(III). An aqueous extract of Indian gooseberry is utilized as a natural reagent to form a complex with iron(III),…

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…

To incorporate active and collaborative teaching methods early in our curriculum, we have developed a freshman design laboratory. The course introduces numerous core concepts and lab skills, by way of seven teaching modules, including spectrometer construction and a collaborative project with seniors. Survey data show students enjoyed and learned…

An Interactive electronic Atlas (IeA) was developed to assist first-year nursing students with interpretation of laboratory-based prosected cadaveric material. It was designed, using pedagogically sound principles, as a student-centered resource accessible to students from a wide range of learning backgrounds. It consisted of a highly simplified…

High school students have had some difficulties in understanding chemistry due to traditional ways of teaching this specific science. It is important to improve teaching methods that increase student motivation, not only to enhance their capacity for understanding, but also to generate a greater level of interest in the study of chemistry for…

In this laboratory module, introductory biochemistry students are exposed to two-dimensional [superscript 1]H-nuclear magnetic resonance of glycerophospholipids (GPLs). Working in groups of three, students enzymatically synthesized and purified a variety of 2-acyl lyso GPLs. The structure of the 2-acyl lyso GPL was verified using [superscript…

A lithography lab course has been developed that is applicable to students from the middle-school level up to college students. It can also be inserted into electronics technology or similar courses in two- and four-year colleges, or used to demonstrate applications of polymers in chemistry classes. Some of these techniques would enable research…

In this article we report on the use of a graduate "Special Topics" course to provide vital research and practical laboratory experience, within the context of developing a chemical process to manufacture biodiesel from algal sources. This course contained several key components that we believe are necessary skills in graduate research: 1) a…

Personalized medicine refers to medical care that involves genetically screening patients for their likelihood to develop various disorders. Commercial genome screening only involves identifying a consumer's genotype for a few single nucleotide polymorphisms. A phenotype (such as an illness) is greatly influenced by three factors: genes, gene…

Inquiry-driven lab exercises require students to think carefully about a question, carry out an investigation of that question, and critically analyze the results of their investigation. Here, we describe the implementation and assessment of an inquiry-based laboratory exercise in which students obtain and analyze novel data that contribute to our…

Anatomy is recognized to play a central role in the education and training of clinicians, healthcare professionals, and scientists. However, in recent years, the perceived decline in popularity of anatomy has led to a deficiency in the numbers of new anatomy educators. The tide is now turning with anatomy once again taking its rightful place in a…

This module is designed to give the learner an understanding of the nature of light and how its properties are used in the design of spectrophotometers. Problems promote the use of spectrophotometers in qualitative analysis, the optical elements used in a monochromator, and the physical properties of the prism and the diffraction grating. Other…

Experiments to provide an understanding of the principles related to the pressure cooker are presented. Objectives included are designed to provide the learner with the ability to calibrate a thermistor for measuring temperature; explain the meaning of latent and specific heat; calculate latent and specific heat; use a Bourdon tube pressure gauge…

This module is intended to provide an understanding of the principles related to heat transfer. The objectives are designed to enable the learner to select and install a device for measuring the temperature of a power transistor, determine power ratings, measure the transient response for a power level and its final equilibrium temperature. Other…