The teaching of instrumental analysis for many small colleges and high schools continues to be stymied by high-cost, complicated maintenance, high power requirements, and often the sheer bulk of the instrumentation. Such issues have led us to develop inexpensive instruments as part of a SMILE initiative (small, mobile instruments for laboratory…

A student's first introduction to engineering and technology is typically through high school science labs. Unfortunately, in many high schools, science labs often make use of antiquated tools that fail to deliver exciting lab content. As a result, many students are turned off by science, fail to excel on standardized science exams, and do not…

Note is presented on the standard lab from a second year chemistry course. The lab "Determining which of the Seven FD&C Food-Approved Dyes are Used in Making Green Skittles", familiarizes students with the operation of the CHEM2000 UV-Vis spectrophorometer.

Discusses the feasibility of using fermenters in secondary school laboratories. Includes discussions of equipment, safety, and computer interfacing. Describes how a simple fermenter could be used to simulate large-scale processes. Concludes that, although teachers and technicians will require additional training, the prospects for biotechnology in…

Describes: (1) the light beam galvanometer; (2) the electrometer/direct current amplifier; and (3) digital multimeters. Focuses on the uses or potential uses of these instruments in teaching A-level physics. (JN)

Describes a course in chemical instrumentation for high school chemistry teachers, paid for by Union Carbide. Teachers used spectrophotometer, nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer, atomic absorption spectrograph, gas chromatograph, liquid chromatograph and infrared spectrophotometer. Also describes other teacher education seminars. (JM)

Discusses the use of an external analog-digital converter to use a computer as a storage oscilloscope. Provides program listings for use as a unipolar or bipolar voltmeter and storage oscilloscope. Schematics and component list are included. (JM)

Offers suggestions and strategies related to integrating an instrumental approach in high school chemistry. Indicates that the problem-solving process is often clarified using the approach, that the approach improves the quality of the laboratory program, and that it is an effective technique for arousing student interest. (JN)

Provides a brief introduction to using the microcomputer as a piece of laboratory equipment. Focuses on the range of hardware currently available to assist microcomputer-based-instrumentation (MBI), specifically the analog-to-digital converters. In addition, discusses specification of system performance, selection and integration of components,…

Provides a general description of a preprogramed, microprocessor-based laboratory instrument, discussing its use in monitoring: (1) environmental changes; (2) distribution of count rates from a radioactive source, and (3) motion on an air tract. Includes list of the instrument's various capabilities: frequency meter, voltmeter, interval timer, and…

Describes an advanced high school chemistry course that exposes students to a wide variety of modern, realistic instrumental techniques. The laboratory syllabus for the course (which uses the textbook "Organic Chemistry" by Morrison and Boyd) is included. (JN)

Four ways in which microcomputers can be turned into laboratory instruments are discussed. These include adding an analog/digital (A/D) converter on a printed circuit board, adding an external A/D converter using the computer's serial port, attaching transducers to the game paddle ports, or connecting an instrument to the computer. (JN)

Describes a way to use computers in teaching chemistry, in this case in a demonstration lesson on supercooling using a thermister in a game port to interface the computer with cooling phenyl salicylate. Discusses the advantages over the traditional method of instruction. (CW)

Designs a testing situation to examine the presence of combinatorial analysis, to establish construct validity in the use of an instrument, Combinatorial Analysis Behavior Observation Scheme (CABOS), and to investigate the presence of the schema in young adolescents. (Author/GA)

A pilot project was initiated in 1979 at the University of Delhi to develop low-cost, locally produced science equipment. This article: (1) describes the pilot project; (2) presents examples of the low-cost equipment produced; and (3) discusses how the approach used rather than the equipment developed is disseminated. (JN)