The teaching of quantitative genetic variation in the undergraduate laboratory practical environment can be difficult as, for quantitative phenotypes that are under the control of multiple loci, detection of phenotypic differences caused by individual variants is problematical without large samples, impractical in such classes. Pet dogs provide a…

Understanding diamagnetism of oxygenated and paramagnetism of deoxygenated hemoglobin, an important topic in (bio) chemistry for medical students, begins with the understanding of the detailed structure of the oxygen molecule. It continues with a short description of the structures of reactive oxygen species: the singlet form of oxygen, the…

Gas emission tubes are widely used laboratory and demonstration apparatus because the line source nature of the tube produces line spectra when viewed directly through a diffraction grating. These are long and distinctly visible images of the tube, located to either side of the zeroth order at an angle determined by the wavelength. A continuous…

Batteries are valued as devices that store chemical energy and convert it into electrical energy. Unfortunately, the standard description of electrochemistry does not explain specifically where or how the energy is stored in a battery; explanations just in terms of electron transfer are easily shown to be at odds with experimental observations.…

The experience of designing and teaching a lecture-based course about characterization techniques commonly used in solid state chemistry and materials science in an undergraduate institution is described. Among the techniques studied were the following: powder X-ray diffraction, infrared spectroscopy, Raman spectroscopy, scanning electron…

An undergraduate experiment combining synthesis, NMR analysis and mechanistic understanding is reported. The students perform an organocatalyzed cyclopropanation reaction of (E)-dec-2-enal and are then required to determine the diastereoselectivity and assign the relative configuration of each product using NMR spectroscopy.

Biodiesel is an important alternative fuel synthesized by the trans-esterification of vegetable oils, animal fats, and recycled greases. In this experiment, students prepared biodiesel through the base-catalyzed trans-esterification of several vegetable oils, which were subsequently analyzed in comparison with conventional petroleum-based fuels to…

On the basis of recent advances in battery research and technology, we have developed a novel laboratory exercise centered on an organic--inorganic battery using the redox chemistry of the organic molecule anthraquinone-2,7-disulfonic acid disodium salt (AQDS). Although most commercially available batteries are based on inorganic redox couples,…

We describe an advanced, inquiry driven undergraduate course in Cancer Biology that combines faculty lectures typical of undergraduate courses with literature-driven discussions typical of graduate courses. As a capstone course, one goal of this course is to integrate knowledge from previous coursework in physiology, cell and molecular biology,…

A student-choice model course redesign was used to counteract a large increase in student enrollment, improve the quality of instruction, and preserve student success. This model is an instructional technique that allows students to choose how to engage in a course. Using this model in a first-semester college-level general chemistry course,…

In the activity described in this communication, the authors present a simple experiment that can be implemented with moderate operational costs and that allows students to acquire the manipulative skills necessary for chromatographic analysis of a familiar fuel that still plays a fundamental role in providing energy for transport of passengers…

This laboratory experiment allows one to study the effect of temperature in the process of formation of hydrogen bound cyclic dimers of benzoic acid (BA). The implementation of the proposed methodology, which comprises the use of FTIR spectroscopy and quantum chemistry calculations, enables the obtaining of the thermodynamic parameters of the…

Acquiring a basic understanding about the composition of crystal structures and the resulting structure-property relationship is central for chemists and material chemists, enabling the prediction of desired properties and the solution of a wide range of current challenges in sciences, e.g., the development of clean-energy storage. For a deeper…

Creativity is a uniquely human trait and it is the force behind many modern advancements. Due to the rapid changes seen across the economy and society, creativity has become highly valued and is in increasing demand by employers. To prepare students to meet this demand, many education stakeholders (such as Monash University) have incorporated…

Much of the literature contributing to physics instructors' knowledge of student ideas (KSI) reports common patterns of reasoning that are framed as discontinuous with canonical concepts. Our work contributes new KSI about mechanical wave propagation from a resources perspective, framing student thinking in terms of context-sensitive pieces of…