Enzymes are nature's catalysts, mediating chemical processes in living systems. The study of enzyme function and mechanism includes defining the maximum catalytic rate and affinity for substrate/s (among other factors), referred to as enzyme kinetics. Enzyme kinetics is a staple of biochemistry curricula and other disciplines, from molecular and…

We are living in the Big Data era, and yet we may have serious troubles when dealing with a handful of kinetic data if we are not properly instructed. The aim of this paper, related to enzyme kinetics, is to illustrate how to determine the K[subscript m] and V[subscript max] of a michaelian enzyme avoiding the pitfalls in which we often fall. To…

Experimental activity in the physics teaching can be considered as a space in which teachers create contexts for students to approach the way scientific knowledge is constructed. In this sense, the strategies for the integration of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in the context of science education, has a wide potential to guide…

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…

Teaching labs at the undergraduate level poses unique challenges to a school system forced online by COVID-19. We adapted physiology laboratories typically taught in-person to an online-only format, allowing students to measure personal health data alone. Students used available technology and low-cost devices for measuring respiratory and…

This article describes how the Sichuan University - Pittsburgh Institute has embraced new methods and new technologies to ensure high-quality laboratory teaching during the COVID-19 pandemic. Taking Mechanical Measurements 1 course as an example, this paper introduces two lab projects that were successfully transferred into online experiments…

Mole to gram conversions, density, and percent composition are fundamental concepts in first year chemistry at the high school or undergraduate level; however, students often find it difficult to engage with these concepts. We present a simple laboratory experiment utilizing portable nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy (NMR) to determine the…

Dimensional Analysis (DA) is shown to play a pivotal role in the teaching of Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM). This article summarizes the basic rules and corollaries of DA and addresses (1) the importance of using DA with mathematical functions; (2) how to use DA in a science/engineering laboratory based discovery approach;…

Recent examples of high-impact teaching practices in the undergraduate chemistry laboratory that include course-based undergraduate research experiences and inquiry-based experiments require new approaches to assessing individual student learning outcomes. Instructors require tools and strategies that can provide them with insight into individual…

We sometimes struggle with the question of whether our primary goal is for students to recall or understand answers to questions, or for students to do science and improve their "scientific temper". This article describes how an enquiry-based laboratory experiment was carried out in which the stress was on the latter. The students…

Quantitative reasoning is a key intellectual skill, applicable across disciplines and best taught in the context of authentic, relevant problems. Here, I describe and assess a laboratory exercise that has students calculate their "carbon footprint" and evaluate the impacts of various behavior choices on that footprint. Students gather…

As advances in biotechnology and molecular biology rapidly expand in research settings, it is vital that we continue to prepare high school students to enter and thrive in those modern laboratories. This multistep, inquiry-based lab describes highly adaptable methods to teach students not only current molecular techniques and technologies, but…

We present a novel first-year chemistry laboratory experiment that connects solubility, equilibrium, and chemical periodicity concepts. It employs a unique format that asks students to replicate experiments described in different sample lab reports, each lacking some essential information, rather than follow a scripted procedure. This structure is…

Expression proteomics has become, in recent years, a key genome-wide expression approach in fundamental and applied life sciences. This postgenomic technology aims the quantitative analysis of all the proteins or protein forms (the so-called proteome) of a given organism in a given environmental and genetic context. It is a challenge to provide…

The purpose of this article is to describe a simple laboratory activity in which students collect a series of measurements and then use graphical analysis to determine the nature of the relationship between an object's mass and the volume of water it displaces. In this activity, students explore the relationships between the mass of a floating…