Laboratory safety regulations have been traditionally viewed by its learners and practitioners as a matter of law and policy, which simply requires compliance. A compliance mindset tends be passive and dissociates individuals (or even institutions) from the important reasons and principles underlying the safety rules and regulations, leading to…

Bacteria have developed a cell-to-cell communication system called quorum sensing (QS), allowing them to regulate group behavior and synchronize the expression of virulence factors, responsible for increasing their infection capacity and resistance to antimicrobials. Although the control of microbial infections through the inhibition of microbial…

Fluorescence-related experimental techniques play an important role in biochemistry, molecular biology, and cell biology. However, fluorescence-related experiments are rarely included in the laboratory courses of most Chinese universities. This is mainly due to the conflict between large class size (50-60 students in one room) and funding/space…

Owing to the critical role of stereochemistry in biotechnology, medicine, and industry, it must be well represented in undergraduate lab curricula. To achieve these stereochemical laboratory requirements without sacrificing existing lab techniques, we modified two standard laboratory experiments to include chiral GC analysis as follows. (1) The…

The ability to elucidate the structure of organic compounds from their nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR), infrared (IR), and mass spectrometry (MS) spectra is an essential skill, particularly for those engaged in the fields of synthetic and analytical organic chemistry. Spectral analysis constitutes a fundamental component of the curriculum for all…

By hosting a college students' laboratory skills contest, we provide an interesting activity for students to cultivate good laboratory practices and thereby improve their laboratory skills. The substance of this contest is the detection of the hardness of water, which involves numerous laboratory skills such as solution preparation, weight by…

We present the development and evaluation of "da Vinci's Curse", a chemistry escape room experience designed to consolidate laboratory skills in a fun and interactive setting. Inspired by the maestro, Leonardo da Vinci, the escape room challenges students to complete a series of puzzles in teams to escape "da Vinci's Curse".…

Understanding potentiometry is a difficult task when students in initial courses of Analytical Chemistry are first introduced to instrumental techniques. The closest instrument to them is a pH meter, which is frequently used as a "black box", without a real understanding of how it works. Here we present the assembly of jelly modules that…

Undergraduate laboratory courses are vital for both enhancing student learning and preparing students for their future careers. Despite their importance, laboratory courses are often met with a lack of enthusiasm from students. For pre-health students specifically, laboratory courses are commonly seen as part of a check-list that needs to be…

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…

The American Chemical Society advocates a shift from rule-based to risk-based safety education for chemistry graduates, emphasizing meaningful student engagement in the risk assessment process for laboratory work. To implement this paradigm shift, we introduced RAMP (Recognize Hazards, Assess Risk, Minimize Risk, and Prevent Emergencies)-based…

Chemometric techniques such as partial least-squares (PLS) regression have been applied with huge success to a wide array of chemical problems including multicomponent analysis of analytes in complex mixtures. Despite this, there are few examples of laboratory pedagogical exercises that involve students in the acquisition of chemical data from…

A variety of strategies have been introduced to tackle the issue of laboratory safety in academic settings. These strategies include innovative educational tools as students transition from the classroom into the laboratory, the introduction of policies designed to protect the researchers in the laboratory environment, and the creation of teams of…

The COVID-19 pandemic has significantly affected teaching processes worldwide, particularly in laboratory-intensive courses. To adapt, online experiments have been implemented globally. In response, educators at the Department of Chemistry, Chulalongkorn University, developed a Lab@Home chemistry experiment for their general chemistry lab course…

An inquiry-based learning approach was implemented into comprehensive organic chemistry experiments focusing on the formation process of N-phenylbenzamide from the reaction between N-benzylideneaniline and benzoyl peroxide in commercial dimethyl sulfoxide. Students conducted comparative experiments using alternative reagents or reaction conditions…