This study aims to investigate the relationship between written and oral reasoning in an undergraduate chemistry laboratory course as part of an argument-based inquiry approach, which is also a generative learning environment, known as the Science Writing Heuristic (SWH). The study employed the data-transformation variant of convergent design of…

Interest affects learning; it also affects students' attitude towards science and career choices. It is therefore urgent to increase students' interest and improve their attitude towards science to face the complex challenges of the future. This study transformed cutting-edge induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) research into an informal science…

Research on student learning in organic chemistry indicates that students tend to focus on surface level features of molecules with less consideration of implicit properties when engaging in mechanistic reasoning. Writing-to-learn (WTL) is one approach for supporting students' mechanistic reasoning. A variation of WTL incorporates peer review and…

Simulation is accepted as an effective method of learning procedural skills. However, the translational outcomes of skills acquired through simulation still warrants investigation. We designed this study to assess if skills laboratory training in addition to bedside learning (intervention group [IG]) would provide better learning results than…

This study introduces a modernized approach to classical volumetric titrations for the undergraduate chemistry curriculum. Leveraging smartphones and digital top-loading balances, we performed mass-based titrations and determined end points using digital color measurements. Our aim was to make classical wet chemistry more accessible and engaging…

We developed a gas-phase Fourier Transform InfraRed Scientific Instrument Simulator (FTIR-SIS, https://ftir.rastonlab.org/) in response to the unavailability of one during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown of 2020. It features an interactive interface that encourages students to explore different components of a typical FTIR, and it allows them to…

Purpose: This study aims to explore employee green behavior in higher education institution (HEI) laboratories in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Design/methodology/approach: A qualitative approach was used to explore the green behavior experiences of individuals working in HEI laboratories. In-depth interviews were conducted with nine participants…

The purpose of this research is to explore prospective teachers' perspectives on the physical arrangement of an ideal classroom as a learning environment. A phenomenological design was used in this study to reveal the views of prospective teachers about the components and features of an ideal, desired classroom environment. Fifteen teacher…

The study of pedagogical design and development for virtual laboratory in science education in higher education is limited. Few tailored pedagogical approaches have been adopted for developing students higher order thinking (i.e. reflective thinking skills) in virtual laboratory enabled learning in the university level. For addressing these, this…

Despite the opportunities that makerspaces and FabLabs offer for the development of 21st-century skills, understanding how these skills are being practiced and assessed in these spaces has been proven challenging. In this work, we address this gap through an interview study investigating 13 maker-educators' practices across different makerspaces…

In this quantitative study, we explored learners' intrinsic motivation towards three different experimental physics educational activities offered by our department to upper-grade high school students. The inspected activities were lecture demonstrations, a science show, and hands-on practical work. The respondents were Czech high school students…

The Internet-of-Things (IoT) is a collection of technologies to bring the Internet to physically embedded devices and to embed them deeply into human activities to aid in a variety of activities. IoT gained traction with developers and consumers in recent years, driven by low-cost open-source hardware that enables easy prototyping and testing. IoT…

Undergraduates use a spike sorting routine developed in Octave to analyze the spiking activity generated from mechanical stimulation of spines of cockroach legs with the inexpensive SpikerBox amplifier and the free software Audacity. Students learn the procedures involved in handling the cockroaches and recording extracellular action potentials…

In engineering design, engineers must be able to think creatively, effectively toggling between divergent thinking (developing multiple novel ideas) and convergent thinking (pursuing an appropriate idea using engineering analyses). However, creative thinking is not emphasized in many undergraduate engineering programs. In this empirical study, we…

A research-style laboratory experiment composed of the synthesis of MOF-74 materials, related structural characterization, and the cutting-edge application of electrocatalytic oxygen evolution reaction (OER) has been designed toward advanced undergraduates at East China University of Technology (ECUT). The desired monometallic MOF-74 (Ni-MOF-74…