When attempting to integrate any Information and Communications Technology (ICT) based resource into Post-Primary Schools (High Schools) many potential barriers must be considered. Importantly, many of these barriers revolve around the individual teacher and hence they are an important starting point in understanding the change process in schools.…

A science librarian in the laboratory can become a "point of access" for database instruction and provide a learning opportunity for students to develop their information literacy skills. A case study describes how a librarian in an organic chemistry laboratory helps the class run smoothly and identifies the science librarian as an ally and a…

This column provides best safety practices for the science classroom and laboratory. In this month's issue, pregnancy policy in the laboratory is discussed. One can't ignore the fact that student and faculty pregnancies--and the resulting potential hazards in the science laboratory--exist at the high school level. Science teachers need to be…

In this article we report on the use of a graduate "Special Topics" course to provide vital research and practical laboratory experience, within the context of developing a chemical process to manufacture biodiesel from algal sources. This course contained several key components that we believe are necessary skills in graduate research: 1) a…

This article showcases a virtual interactive participatory design activity for building a digital entomology lab. Conceptualized as a virtual complement to a general entomology course at Kansas State University, the lab would allow learners to explore morphological aspects of insects--their various forms and functions--in order to understand…

The aim of this study is to examine the effectiveness of collaborative learning with hints and peer tutoring with hints, and individual learning with hints in chemistry laboratory education in a secondary school. A total of 96 eleventh graders participated in this study. The study has a randomized pre-test and post-test design with a delayed…

Online education has exploded in popularity. While there is ample research on predictors of traditional college student success, little research has been done on effective methods of predicting student success in online education. In this study, a number of demographic variables including GPA, ACT, gender, age and others were examined to determine…

Trends in the agriculture industry require students to have the ability to solve problems associated with scientific content. Agricultural laboratories are considered a main component of secondary agricultural education, and are well suited to provide students with opportunities to develop problem-solving skills through experiential learning. This…

A simple experiment is presented to visualize inferior and superior mirages in the laboratory. A quantitative analysis is done using ray tracing with both photographic and computational techniques. The mirage's image, as seen by the eye or the camera lens, can be used to analyse the deflection and inversion of light rays. (Contains 6 footnotes, 1…

If you have seen tubes like the ones we describe here in the back of a cupboard but have been reluctant to use them, now is the time to get them out. The aim of this article is to record the history of teaching about electron beams, particularly with Teltron equipment, and in doing so encourage those schools that are equipped with these tubes to…

To investigate the frontiers of particle physics, physicists and engineers are building detectors and making measurements in unusual settings from outer space to far-flung regions of the Earth. In the past several decades, laboratories have been set up deep underground in working mines or mountain tunnels to look at subatomic particles from our…

Optical elements manipulate light waves. They may be used to focus the light or to change the phase, the polarization, the direction, or the intensity of light. Many of these functions are often demonstrated with microwaves, since the devices normally available in teaching laboratories produce wavelengths in the centimeter range and are therefore…

Most chemical engineering undergraduate laboratories have fluid mechanics experiments in which pressure drops through pipes are measured over a range of Reynolds numbers. The standard fluid is liquid water, which is essentially incompressible. Since density is constant, pressure drop does not depend on the pressure in the pipe. In addition, flow…

Catalytic conversion is an important tool in environmental-remediation strategies and source removal of pollutants. Because a catalyst is regenerated, the chemistry can be extremely effective for conversion of undesirable pollutant species to less harmful products in situations where the pollutants have accumulated or are being continuously…

A key goal of molecular/cell biology/biotechnology is to identify essential genes in virtually every physiological process to uncover basic mechanisms of cell function and to establish potential targets of drug therapy combating human disease. This article describes a semester-long, project-oriented molecular/cellular/biotechnology laboratory…