This article seeks to provide researchers and practitioners in laboratory education, particularly those involved in the curriculum design and implementation of teaching laboratories at university level, with a conceptual framework and a working model for an integrated assessment of learning domains, by attending to a more holistic approach to…

Education is undergoing critical transformations driven by innovations in remote experimentation and learning analytics. As technology reshapes how we teach and learn, remote experimentation allows students to conduct hands-on, interactive experiments from anywhere in the world, breaking down geographical and resource-based barriers. This shift…

An introductory guide to deducing the mechanism of chemical reactions is presented. Following a typical workflow for probing reaction mechanism, the guide introduces a wide range of kinetic and mechanistic tools. In addition to serving as a broad introduction to mechanistic analysis for students and researchers, the guide has also been used by…

The problem of obtaining the apparent equation of motion and shape of a moving body from its arbitrary given equation of motion in special relativity is considered. Also the inverse problem of obtaining the body's equation of motion from a known equation of motion of its image is discussed. Some examples of this problem solution are considered. As…

The Prime Minister's Committee on Natural Science in Education in Great Britain reported in 1918 that "...in many schools more time is spent in laboratory work than the results obtained can justify." Seventy years later this conclusion can often still be drawn. This is particularly a problem in open distance education where laboratory practicals,…

The purpose of this study was to determine the concerns of Texas science teachers about the 40 percent laboratory time rule just prior to enforcement and at the end of its first year of implementation. The methodology, results of the first and second years, conclusions, and implications for teaching science are discussed. (KR)

Describes two new exercises in classical conditioning that use earthworms and houseflies. The animals are available year-round and pose no risk to the students or instructor. The conditioned stimuli are odorants. These elicit a conditioned response of contraction in worms or proboscis extension in flies. (MJP)

Discusses an analysis of the relationship of soil temperatures at 3 depths to various climatic variables along a 200-kilometer transect in west-central Oklahoma. Reports that temperature readings increased from east to west. Concludes that temperature variations were explained by a combination of spatial, temporal, and biophysical factors. (SG)

Describes the Tardigrada as a group of animals suitable for close study in project work. Gives reasons for their suitability and an illustrated identification key. Discusses possible investigations into the ecology and physiology of tardigrades. (Author/CW)

Discusses who has the right to determine the use of animals in scientific research which includes medical experimentation and the toxicity testing of compounds, ranging from pesticides to cosmetics. Provides a list of questions for consideration and discussion. (RT)

This investigation showed no sex difference between boys and girls with regard to practical work at the end of their first year of secondary school and no difference between schools and groupings (all boys, all girls, mixed schools with mixed science classes, and mixed schools with single sex science classes). (JN)

Proposes a simple procedure based on an expansion of the exponential terms of Raoult's law by applying it to the case of the benzene-toluene mixture. The results with experimental values are presented as a table. (YP)

Outlines the Cosmic Background Explorer (COBE) mission to measure celestial radiation. Describes the instruments used and experiments involving differential microwave radiometers, and a far infrared absolute spectrophotometer. (YP)

Investigates the nature of catastrophic volcanism and the rifting process. Describes two kinds of evidence: quantitative descriptions of rock melting and a wide range of observations. Discusses examples of continent growth in the North Atlantic, India and the Seychelles islands, and the South Atlantic. (YP)

Outlines a laboratory exercise that makes use of Beer's Law plots of cysteine constructed at several pH values over a broad range of wavelengths to estimate the tautomeric ratio (R) of two singly charged ionic forms, calculate the microscopic constants, and construct ultraviolet spectra for both light absorbing species. (CW)