Rock and mineral labs are fundamental in traditional introductory geology courses. Successful implementation of these lab activities provides students opportunities to apply content knowledge. Inquiry-based instruction may be one way to increase student success. Prior examination of published STEM labs indicates that geology labs, particularly…

Photochemical reactions are the reactions that are induced by light. Many of these reactions are found in natural processes, including photosynthesis and the formation and decomposition of ozone in the atmosphere. Classroom demonstrations are effective in enhancing students' learning and retention. Herein, we have developed a simple demonstration…

Enzymes, enzymatic kinetics, and enzyme inhibition are topics covered in undergraduate biochemistry textbooks, having perceptible relevance to everyday life. The experimental use of enzymes involved in basic physiologic processes may be of utmost pedagogic interest because they bring evidence on how a significant number of drugs are used to…

Promotion of students' scientific literacy has long been and continues to be a central goal for reform efforts in science education. Although there is a great number of research conducted to evaluate student's scientific literacy, less is known about how we can improve students' scientific literacy through variety of scientific practices. In this…

Although Ohm's law contains various possibilities in teaching and learning scientific inquiry, it is rare for students to experience an authentic inquiry. Thus, we designed an open-ended in-depth inquiry about Ohm's law and made students conduct it. To do this, we developed a laboratory activity for students following a standard method of Ohm's…

Students' expectations for their laboratory coursework are theorized to have an impact on their learning experiences and behaviors, such as engagement. Before students' expectations and engagement can be explored in different types of undergraduate chemistry laboratory courses, appropriate measures of these constructs must be identified, and…

Project-based learning is widely used in organic laboratories. This goal-oriented and inquiry-based learning model complements student-centered training. Such models focus on complicated issues or real-world problems on the frontier of chemistry. Students progress through three project phases: preproject, during the project, and postproject.…

Given the emphasis placed on laboratory reform and student engagement in authentic science practice, this manuscript outlines the development of a hybrid project-based laboratory (HPBL) curriculum centered around specific instructor goals and provides examples on how those goals were met by the experiments and how the change in curriculum affected…

There has been dramatic growth in interest and research regarding organic photochromism in recent decades. Despite this, the topic is seldom addressed in the undergraduate chemistry curriculum. Herein, we present a straightforward and robust experiment for the second semester organic chemistry laboratory curriculum which combines multistep…

Laboratory course activities often focus on "cookbook style," so their activities have not yet integrated with scientific thinking as an essential aspect. In this research, the laboratory experience of microbial analysis techniques was redesigned using alternative inquiry to involve students in isolating and characterising yeast to make…

A national survey on chemistry instructional laboratories was administered to faculty members at four-year postsecondary institutions in the United States for the purpose of exploring levels of inquiry-based instruction implemented in laboratory courses. Respondents were asked to rate the level of choice their students had in deciding six key…

This paper describes the design, implementation, and evaluation of an inquiry-based laboratory for sophomore-level organic chemistry into a mostly cookbook, existing laboratory curriculum. For the laboratory, students were required to generate their own procedures and use their own recorded data from prior laboratory assignments to identify an…

We describe a guided-inquiry laboratory experiment for instrumental analysis in which our students test an improved protocol for the recycling of silver chloride to produce nontoxic waste. Students are provided with samples of silver chloride that they created as waste products in a previous lab experiment and tasked with performing a stepwise…

Involving students in laboratory and inquiry-based activities can help them understand the concepts of physics. However the learning process should not only focus on the concepts. Moreover, the advantages of using virtual or physical labs are still under examination. The purpose of this study is to analyse which of the two modes (virtual or…

The process of method development is at the heart of analytical chemistry, yet direct experimental experience with the process is rarely taught in the undergraduate laboratory. We report here an experiment that uses rapid, safe, and inexpensive paper-based microfluidics with cell phone detection in order to facilitate the development of a…