The use of symmetry is widespread in chemistry, as it is used for predictions of the number of allowed and forbidden absorptions in electronic, vibrational, and rotational spectroscopies; for predictions of the combination of atomic orbitals to produce molecular orbitals; and in many other chemical applications. One critical step in these…

Reorienting organic chemistry laboratories with an emphasis on systemic thinking can only be beneficial to students. Addressing the challenges of climate change and the development of renewable resources with a fundamental reaction, such as the hydrogenation of an alkene, will allow students to see organic chemistry as a science beneficial to…

Following the COVID-19 lockdown, the BSc in Human Biology Program of the University of Nicosia switched from face-to-face to online delivery mode. Herein we describe how we identified and managed the challenges that arose to successfully complete the Semester.

Virtual Learning Environments (VLEs) are becoming commonplace in Higher Education. Amongst the latest VLE developments is the design and use of Virtual Microscopes (VMs) that allow for viewing and manipulation of online images by multiple students. Although students are found to be generally satisfied with the use of VMs, it is yet not known what…

Engaging students in higher education is a critical aspect of student learning (Barkley, 2009; Coates, 2005).Flipped classroom are being reported in the literature as a means to engage students in the learning process, compared to traditional lectures (O'Flaherty & Phillips, 2015). However, flipped classrooms are difficult to implement without…

"Sinorhizobium meliloti" is a bacterium of great agroeconomic importance because of its ability to fix atmospheric nitrogen in symbiotic association with alfalfa ("Medicago sativa") roots, and it is often used in model studies. We investigated the effects of exopolysaccharides (EPSs) in cell-to-cell and cell-to-surface…

Undergraduate laboratory courses, owing to their larger sizes and shorter time slots, are often conducted in highly structured modes. However, this approach is known to interfere with students' engagement in the experiments. To enhance students' engagement, we propose an alternative mode of running laboratory courses by creating some…

The "Vision and Change" report called for the biology community to mobilize around teaching the core concepts of biology. This essay describes a collection of resources developed by several different groups that can be used to respond to the report's call to transform undergraduate education at both the individual course and departmental…

This study aimed to promote scientific literacy among sports majors who were not interested in learning about science via a course called Addressing Macroscopic Issues in Biochemistry and Sports (AMIBAS). The participants were 54 students majoring in sports at an Indonesian university. Using a 1 group pre-post study design, students were required…

We developed a multipart laboratory experiment on the synthesis of free-standing hydrogels for junior to senior undergraduate students. In this experiment series that runs over the course of multiple 3-h lab periods, small everyday objects belonging to the students are reproduced as hydrogels by first creating negative templates in thermally cured…

Graduate teaching assistants (GTAs) often lead laboratory and tutorial sections in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM), especially at large, research-intensive universities. GTAs' performance as instructors can impact student learning experience as well as learning outcomes. In this study, we observed 11 chemistry GTAs and 11…

Process oriented guided inquiry learning (POGIL) is a specific type of active learning centered on a learning cycle where students first explore a concept through scientific models, followed by a concept invention, and finally a concept application phase. In spite of POGIL's research-based design and the many studies showing it increases learning…

The advanced organic chemistry experiments describe the preparation of fused six-membered lactams to isoxazole and isoxazoline by employing Ugi four-component reaction (U-4CR) and intramolecular nitrile oxide cyclization (INOC) synthetic sequence. The experiments were carried out in 28 h (overnight for U-4CR) and 2 h (for INOC) using commercially…

A four week laboratory experiment was designed on the basis of a modification of the Weiss-Cook reaction for the preparation of "cis"-1,5-dimethylbicyclo[3.3.0]octane-3,7-dione. In general, this very versatile organic reaction involves a two-step process reacting biacetyl with 2 mol of dimethyl-1,3-acetonedicarboxylate to form…

Due to the concern for COVID-19, universities in Korea switched to online teaching in most chemistry courses in the spring semester, 2020. While online lectures have been available for a small number of courses in the previous semesters, it is unprecedented that most lectures should be given online. In this communication, we describe how higher…