Diverse biological data may be used to create illustrations of molecules in their cellular context. I describe the scientific results that support a recent textbook illustration of a mitochondrion. The image magnifies a portion of the mitochondrion by one million times, showing the location and form of membranes and individual macromolecules,…

Introductory science courses often have laboratory components in which students are required to write formal lab reports as homework. These reports often have problems such as incorrect data analysis, mistaken conclusions, and unclear graphs, all errors that indicate that students often fail to understand the experiments. Plagiarism is also…

A differential magnetic circuit (magnetic bridge) is described. The circuit separates the magnetic field sensor and the sample under study. A Hall probe serves as the sensor. The signal from the sensor can be enhanced by concentrating the magnetic flux. The magnetic bridge works even with dc magnetic fields. The device is used for displaying…

Understanding lunar phases requires three-dimensional information about the relative positions of the Moon, Earth, and Sun, thus using a stereo display in instruction might improve student comprehension of lunar phases or other topics in basic astronomy. We conducted a laboratory (15 sections) on phases of the Moon as part of the introductory…

This paper presents a simple, cost-effective and robust atomic force microscope (AFM), which has been purposely designed and built for use as a teaching aid in undergraduate controls labs. The guiding design principle is to have all components be open and visible to the students, so the inner functioning of the microscope has been made clear to…

In this essay Thomas Fallace argues that John Dewey can best be described as a pragmatic historicist and a genetic psychologist. This means that Dewey believed that the best way to understand any idea, phenomenon, or entity is to trace its history, that the history of the individual and race pass through distinct stages of development, and that…

The National Science Teachers Association's (NSTA) Science Safety Advisory Board recently launched the Safety in the Science Classroom portal. This portal serves as a gateway to safety resources for teachers, supervisors, and administrators. It also contains an evolving list of safety resources for elementary, middle, and high schools. The list…

Gel electrophoresis is one of the most important tools used in molecular biology and has facilitated the entire field of genetic engineering by enabling the separation of nucleic acids and proteins. However, commercial electrophoresis kits can cost up to $800 for each setup, which is cost prohibitive for most classroom budgets. This article…

Adopting a case study approach with multiple data sources, this paper explores the ways in which rapport is built, and its impact on the learning process based on five successive writing support consultations between a native English-speaking (NES) tutor and her second language (L2) tutee in a Hong Kong university. With reference to the prepared…

Communication skills are a significant contributor to an individual's success in the workplace. Unfortunately, students often have trouble expressing their ideas in written form and the poor quality of students' written work often impedes the learning process. This pilot study investigates the use of online writing studios within a quality…

Web-based testing has recently become common in both academic and professional settings. A web-based test is administered through a web browser. Individuals may complete a web-based test at nearly any time and at any place. In addition, almost any computer lab can become a testing center. It is important to understand the environmental issues that…

A prior study showed that students best make predictions about the outcome of opening a valve between two flasks containing a fluid or vacuum when they view both a demonstration video and a particulate animation, but the study showed no influence from the order in which these visualizations were used. The purpose of this current research was to…

Sophomore liberal arts and engineering students enrolled in a course to learn and practice some basic chemical engineering side by side. The course was developed around the theme of indigo dyeing, which has an interesting history, fascinating chemistry and is accessible to all students. The students participated in a variety of active learning…

Increasing numbers of college students own cell phones, and many of these phones are smartphones, which include features such as still and video cameras, global positioning systems, Internet access, and computers as powerful as the desktop models of only a few years ago. A number of chemical educators are already using these devices for education.…

Stereotype threat is frequently purported to be an important determinant of gender gaps in math. Unlike prior studies, which mostly occur in lab settings, I use data from the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP)--a large, representative assessment of U.S. children--where through a design quirk, students are randomly assigned test…