The continuous distillation experiment in the Unit Operations Lab was moved to a virtual platform. Students used old data and equipment specifications to simulate the column in Aspen HYSYS. Students experimented without the limitations of existing equipment. For example, they studied the number of trays in the virtual column, something that is…

We created a 2-week, dual-module summer course introducing high school students to environmental toxicology by teaching them quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) as a way to quantify gene expression of chemical defense proteins in response to exposure to environmental pollutants. During the course, students are guided through the various…

Understanding measurement uncertainty is crucial in experimental physics, as it enables accurate and reliable measurements, facilitates comparison between measurements, and aids in designing experiments. Consequently, measurement uncertainty has emerged as a critical learning goal for many introductory physics labs. Here, we explore the impact of…

We developed labs on the evolution of antibiotic resistance to assess the costs and benefits of replacing traditional laboratory exercises in an introductory biology course for majors with a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE). To assess whether participating in the CURE imposed a cost in terms of exam performance, we implemented…

Developing a broadly based positive culture of safety in undergraduate instructional laboratory settings remains a significant challenge for chemical educators. An enhanced safety component has been developed for an upper-level laboratory course based on earning a Chemical Hygiene and Safety badge. The badge requires student engagement in…

"Beer Brewing: Chemical and Biochemical Principles" is a 15 week laboratory and lecture course specifically designed for nonscience majors as an introduction to science literacy via structured laboratory experiments that encourage student engagement. It provides students with a foundation in chemical and biochemical principles using a…

Increasingly, students training in the biological sciences depend on a proper grounding in biological statistics, data science and experimental design. As biological datasets increase in size and complexity, transparent data management and analytical methods are essential skills for undergraduate biologists. We propose that using the software R…

Quantum computing is a growing field at the intersection of physics and computer science. The goal of this article is to highlight a successfully trialled quantum computing course for high school students between the ages of 15 and 18 years old. This course was designed to bridge the gap between popular science articles and advanced undergraduate…

In this paper, we describe the transition of all five course-sections of General Biology Laboratory I from "cookbook" surveys of taxonomic domains and kingdoms to course-based undergraduate research experiences that champion inquiry-based learning in "real world" environments. We achieved this by scaling-up lessons from a…

To enhance students' learning and help them understand the whole picture of the field of inorganic chemistry, an inorganic laboratory technique course was designed that uses scaffolded, inquiry-based lab experiments and project-based learning. The scaffolded, inquiry-based laboratories taught in the first 8 weeks of the course helped students…

A teaching team composed of a faculty member (lecture) and a graduate teaching assistant (lab) endeavored to engage students enrolled in several sections of the same organic chemistry course through the use of social media. Students were encouraged to follow both instructors on Twitter and were asked to share aspects of the class using the social…

The COVID-19 outbreak has created turbulence and uncertainty into multiple aspects of life in countries around the world. In China, the pandemic continues to pose a great challenge to the nature of traditional in-class education in schools. Chinese education has faced the difficult decision of whether to resume in-person teaching in an…

The COVID-19 outbreak has had a significant impact on higher education worldwide. In-person courses had to be quickly transited to online, including lab courses embedded with Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs). In response to this challenge, we successfully converted a fully in-person biochemistry lab that integrated with a…

Delivering Anatomy & Physiology (A&P) labs online became necessary in the spring of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. For four semesters (Summer 2020 through Summer 2021), our A&P1 and A&P2 labs were instructed in a virtual format. Each lab session included a one-hour synchronous session led by teaching assistants followed by…

The COVID-19 pandemic forced many courses to move online, presenting a particular challenge for hands-on laboratory courses. One such course in our Biotechnology track is an advanced Protein Interactions lecture/laboratory course. This 8-week course typically meets for 5 h a week in the laboratory space. For the Fall 2020 version of the course,…