The Homeostasis Concept Inventory (HCI) is a validated instrument for measuring students' knowledge of homeostasis. It is comprised of 20 multiple-choice questions covering key components of the previously validated Homeostasis Conceptual Framework (HCF). In this paper, we present the first multi-institutional study of the impact of physiology…

Chirality continues to intrigue scientists because of its implications in various scientific areas, including the long-unsolved question of its development and link with the origin of life. Chirality plays a significant role in medicine with the advent of chiral drugs and the consequent importance of asymmetric synthesis. For many undergraduate…

The ability to extract structural information from a drawing of a molecule is key to being successful in organic chemistry. One source of difficulty for novices in interpreting structures is that hydrogens bound to carbon are represented implicitly in the often-used line-angle structures. Other representations that explicitly show hydrogens, such…

Genetic variation is historically challenging for undergraduate students to master, potentially due to its grounding in both evolution and genetics. Traditionally, student expertise in genetic variation has been evaluated using Key Concepts. However, Cognitive Construals may add to a more nuanced picture of students' developing expertise. Here, we…

A novel teaching approach is aimed at elucidating the concept of bond enthalpy for general chemistry students. Through the integration of a hands-on candy pulling activity, students in a large lecture class were provided a tangible experience to explore bond strengths using rope candy and a luggage scale. Feedback from students indicated a clear…

Models that illustrate renal fluid dynamics are scarce within the secondary and postsecondary landscape. This work summarizes the efforts to build a rudimentary model renal corpuscle (MRC) that can be employed in a problem-based learning exercise or demonstration to teach basic principles of renal physiology to secondary students or…

The COVID-19 pandemic affected a large range of in-person education activities in Colombia. This created great limitations in academic performance for students with reduced access to communication technologies and deepened the educational gaps in the country. This was particularly true for sciences such as biochemistry. In Colombia, molecular…

This article aims to simplify and facilitate the process of practical teaching of enzyme kinetics by utilizing minimal teaching laboratory requirements. Simultaneously, it ensures that students comprehend the enzyme kinetics experiment effectively. The focus is on teaching students how to estimate the maximum velocity (Vmax) and Michaelis constant…

Electrophilic aromatic substitution (S[subscript E]Ar) and nucleophilic aromatic substitution (S[subscript N]Ar) reactions are among the most valuable reactions in the conversion of aromatic rings. While these reactions are typically covered in separate experiments in undergraduate organic courses, a continuous experimental setup elucidating both…

This research aimed to use students' modeling processes as a means of scientific inquiry. Students constructed models to explain the interactions between felodipine R and S and protein. The approach encouraged active student participation in molecular interaction modeling and offered students a "model-based teaching" experience for…

In a typical undergraduate biochemistry course, two main educational objectives include (1) understanding and applying how genetic mutations can influence protein structure and function, and (2) examining metabolic pathways of biomolecules to study cellular storage and fuel. Many times, these topics can seem disparate to students; therefore, we…

Short chain fatty acids (SCFAs) are produced in the gut as a result of microbial action on ingested dietary fiber and have been associated with several health benefits. Herein an undergraduate student experiment that uses gas chromatography equipped with either a flame ionization detector or mass spectrometer for the analysis and quantitation of…

The galvanic cell is a typical interdisciplinary topic, which is primarily taught in chemistry but its underpinning is closely related to physics. Student learning in galvanic cell has been extensively studied in chemistry education, which has revealed a large number of misconceptions that are difficult to change through traditional instruction. A…

We investigate learning difficulties among second-year students in electromagnetism courses when they apply Ampère-Maxwell's law. Using phenomenography, we analyzed written answers from 65 undergraduate physics students to four questions on Ampère's and Ampère-Maxwell's laws. We complemented our research by interviewing 12 students. To design the…

Resonance is a crucial concept in Organic Chemistry that enables both deriving chemical properties from molecular structures and predicting reactions by considering electron density distribution. Despite its importance for problem-solving and learning success, learners encounter various difficulties with this concept. Although prior research…