With the advances in open-source technology, many laboratory devices can be built with a modest budget, particularly assistive laboratory devices. The current market cost of most assistive laboratory devices is a major barrier for students with accessibility needs. Specifically, for students with visual impairment, their limited choice of…

Laboratory reports written in the style of a standard scientific article are commonly used to assess student learning in biochemistry laboratory courses. While most students can complete the Materials and Methods or Results sections successfully, many have difficulty with the Introduction and Discussion. They fail to place their data in a larger…

Students entering into a quantitative analysis course often struggle with connecting theoretical aspects of concepts from lecture to hands-on applications in the laboratory setting. A one-semester quantitative analysis course was redesigned to integrate active learning with a project-based curriculum that incorporated structured review of…

This paper describes an undergraduate laboratory experiment where students study the heating behavior of magnetic nanoparticles in the presence of alternating magnetic fields. Average score on the post-test was 45±12% for students who completed the lab online, versus 43±11% for those doing the activity hands-on. Post-test scores were significantly…

This paper presents a new way to demonstrate the principle behind mirages in air in the lab. The setup is simple and includes a modified laser illuminator that allows direct comparison between the deflected light rays and their straight path.

A laboratory experiment for the determination of the cross-linking density of silicone elastomers is described on the basis of swelling experiments and mechanical tests. In the experiment, the macroscopic swelling and mechanical behaviors of the elastomers were discussed as a function of the cross-linking density, which can be easily controlled by…

Flavor plays a crucial role and is the most important aspect of foods and beverages. [Beta]-Ionone is a common flavor compound with a characteristic violet-like odor. An undergraduate flavor compounds chemistry laboratory that provides preparation and characterization of the flavor compound inclusion complex between…

In this laboratory experiment, students apply a mass-based approach to determine the Henry's law constant for CO[subscript 2] using a small bottle of a diet carbonated beverage. The calculations are challenging; therefore, team-based learning is encouraged. Our students reported values of 0.033 ± 0.003 mol/(L[middle dot]atm) at room temperature…

One theme that both the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the National Research Council (NRC) agree pervades any science course (and specifically chemistry) is scale. Despite the fact that scale concepts and skills are at the core of a student's scientific literacy, scale or the skills related to understanding quantity…

The popularization of microcontrollers like Arduino bring new possibilities of experiments for physics laboratories. For instance, load cell sensors have been used in experiments on impulse and buoyancy. Here we propose an experimental apparatus using Arduino connected to a load cell to measure surface tension by the du Noüy method (or ring…

This laboratory experiment introduces students to an important reaction in biomass valorization and allows them to gain a practical understanding of green chemistry. Acid-catalyzed dehydration reactions of fructose to 5-hydroxymethylfurfural and thus humins were performed both with and without aqueous solvent, along with two different catalysts…

This experiment provides students with a thorough understanding of electrolysis and the parameters that most greatly impact optimization of this process. In this laboratory exercise, students will focus on the anodization of bismuth metal to develop thin oxide films. When designing an electrolytic cell devoted to anodization, there are several…

4-"tert"-Butylcyclohexanol is rapidly converted to 4-"tert"-butylcyclohexanone with swimming pool bleach in a homogeneous reaction at room temperature. This process introduces students to a heterocyclic compound not normally discussed in the introductory course and has significant advantages over standard procedures using…

This paper describes a new lab experiment where students explore the magnetic force on a permanent magnet placed inside a short solenoid. This lab is the fourth experiment performed in the second semester of the calculus-based introductory physics course at Washington University in St. Louis. The experiment is performed using a speaker (which…

Due to the current trend of decreasing contact hours and less emphasis being given to the basic science courses in the pre-clinical years of medical education, it is essential that new approaches to teaching gross anatomy are investigated to ensure medical students are being adequately exposed to anatomical content. This study retrospectively…