A new graduate chemistry course was introduced in the Department of Chemistry at The University of Alabama. The new course, CH584-Literature and Communication in Graduate Chemistry, replaced a second year graduate student literature seminar requirement. Course topics included chemical information resources, critical analysis, scientific writing,…

Undergraduate students are increasingly being used to support course transformations that incorporate research-based instructional strategies. While such students are typically selected based on strong content knowledge and possible interest in teaching, they often do not have previous pedagogical training. The current training models make use of…

While haptics (simulated touch) represents a potential breakthrough technology for science teaching and learning, there is relatively little research into its differential impact in the context of teaching and learning. This paper describes the testing of a haptically enhanced simulation (HES) for learning about buoyancy. Despite a lifetime of…

Increasing the number of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) university graduates is considered a key element for long-term productivity and competitiveness in the global economy. Still, little is known about what actually drives and shapes students' choices. This paper focusses on secondary school students at the very top of the…

Research is not clear on how to address the difficulty students have conceptualizing geologic processes and phenomena. This study investigated how animations coupled with seductive details effect learners' situational interest and emotions. A quantitative quasi-experimental study employing an independent-measures factorial design was used. The…

People with disabilities are chronically underrepresented in many geoscience departments across the country. There are a number of proposed reasons why this under-representation persists, one of which is lack of instructor training in designing accessible curriculum and making high-quality accommodations. This not only puts students with…

The primary measure used to determine relative effectiveness of in-class activities has been student performance on pre/posttests. However, in today's active-learning classrooms, learning is a social activity, requiring students to interact and learn from their peers. To develop effective active-learning exercises that engage students, it is…

Throughout countries such as Ireland, the U.K., and Australia, graduate students who fulfill teaching roles in the undergraduate laboratory are often referred to as "laboratory demonstrators". The laboratory demonstrator (LD) model of graduate teaching is similar to the more commonly known graduate teaching assistant (GTA) model that is…

In decades Peer Instruction (PI) has been confirmed that it can improve students' conceptual understanding. Anyway the main problem for using PI is an audience responding system which is required for gathering students' answer, to enhance the learning process of PI instead of using Clickers which cost about 40 USD per item. In this work we decided…

The skill of proposing mechanisms of reactions using the electron-pushing formalism (EPF) is not only of value to practicing organic chemists but it is also emphasized to students enrolled in organic chemistry courses at all levels. Several research studies in the past decade have documented the difficulties that undergraduate, and even graduate…

Organic chemistry is an essential subject for many undergraduate students completing degrees in science, engineering, and pre-professional programs. However, students often struggle with the concepts and skills required to successfully solve organic chemistry exercises. Since alkyl halides are traditionally the first functional group that is…

A concept of the turbidimetric method for determining the concentration of ethanol in water-ethanol mixtures is described. A closed sample cell containing the analyte was heated to achieve vapor saturation and subsequent condensation. As the condensation occurred, the decrease in percentage transmittance with time due to light scattering was…

Portions of classic undergraduate quantitative analysis experiments in complexiometric titration and potentiometry are combined with a field-sampling experience to create a two period (2 × 3 h) comparison-based experiment for second-year students. A multifunctional chemical analysis device is used with calcium ion-selective electrode for field…

In the class of 2013, a record number of students earned bachelor's degrees in physics: 7,363. This is more than double the number of students doing so only 14 years earlier. Over the same time period, the total number of bachelor's degrees awarded in all disciplines was up also, but only by about 40%. The graph shows the number of…

A traditional organic chemistry laboratory experiment involves the acid-catalyzed isomerization of (-)-menthone to (+)-isomenthone. This experiment generates large quantities of organic and aqueous waste, and only allows the final ratio of isomers to be determined. A "green" modification has been developed that replaces the mineral acid…