Hands-on experiments and teacher-based demonstrations are two standard teaching methods in secondary school when teaching chemistry in the laboratory. The available literature on these two teaching methods focuses on students' academic achievement. Most of this literature reports inconsistent results, and few studies examined teachers' and…

In the quest of bridging the high graduate unemployment gap of South African graduates, universities introduced initiatives which sought to assist graduates gain the necessary working experience. South African graduates struggle to find sufficient employment due to lack of work experience. The peer-to-peer coaching led by senior students, who are…

Health-related career goals are popular among high school science students, yet few understand the application of chemistry and biology research to the field of medicine and its impact on society. In this five-day multidisciplinary summer camp, high school students learn about the real-world relevance of medicinal chemistry research and its…

The global Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and associated restrictions on indoor gatherings posed considerable challenges to the delivery of courses that traditionally have relied on hands-on learning in their laboratory components. Here, our experiences converting a senior instrumental analysis course to remote online learning in the…

This study aims to assess the effect of experiential learning coupled with thinking-based learning (TBL) pedagogy in developing higher-order thinking skills. We utilized OLabs, a virtual lab, as a mode of experiential electronic-learning for the topic "chemical reactions." Online experimental activities, embedded with thinking-based…

A key part of the practice of chemistry is the analysis of chemical composition, including through gravimetric analysis and spectrophotometry. However, the complexity of doing multiple calculations to obtain analytical evidence, such as that required to determine an empirical formula, presents a challenge if such analytical methods are to be…

The lifetimes of the photoluminescent compounds contained in the coating of fluorescent compact lamps are usually measured using specialised instruments, including pulsed lasers and/or spectrofluorometers. Here we discuss how some low cost apparatuses, based on the use of either sensors for the educational lab or commercial digital photo cameras,…

In conventional e/m experiments performed in undergraduate laboratories, generally a simple mechanical ruler is used to measure the radius of the circular trajectory of the electrons. But, the measurement error in this technique is mostly big and varies from one student to another. As an alternative to a mechanical ruler, we proposed a more…

This paper provides two demonstrations of how Augmented Reality (AR), which is the projection of virtual information onto a real-world object, can be applied in the classroom and in the laboratory. Using only a smart phone and the free HP Reveal app, content rich AR notecards were prepared. The physical notecards are based on Organic Chemistry I…

Here, students determine the total phenolic content in beers using the Folin-Ciocalteu assay. The Folin-Ciocalteu reagent is a yellow complex, in an alkaline medium; it reacts with phenols and non-phenolic reducing substances to form a blue complex. Quantitative analysis was carried out using absorbance measured at 765 nm (standard method) and…

We have developed and employed a set of inquiry-based labs built around engaging "real-world" scenarios for our studio-style introductory Physics II course. In real-world situations, there is more than one path to success and step-by-step instructions are not provided. For this reason, the primary goal for these labs is to provide…

One of the keys to achieving the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in education is to introduce novel pedagogical strategies into university curricula in order to promote an enhanced acute sense of sustainability in future professionals, teachers, and decision-makers. This paper aims at analyzing the effectiveness of including…

An inquiry-based laboratory learning unit was designed to enhance high school students' understanding of the application of lipase as a catalyst to synthesize isoamyl and geranyl ester derivatives as well as to promote their understanding and positive perceptions of green chemistry. The learning unit consisted of three laboratories and a final…

[NiBr[subscript 2](PPh[subscript 3])[subscript 2]] and [NiBr[subscript 2](dppe)] are prepared from nickel bromide hydrate and phosphine. These brightly colored coordination compounds are then converted into the related organometallic compounds "trans"-[NiBr(Mes)(PPh[subscript 3])[subscript 2]] and [NiBr(Mes)(dppe)] (Mes =…

The compensation pendulum is a pendulum that is constructed in a way that its length does not vary by changes of temperature. As the temperature of the air around the clock goes up, the rod of a regular pendulum clock mechanism expands and the clock runs slower. Historically, it has proven easier to compensate for changes in the ambient…