This work describes an effective, low cost method to anodize small aluminum objects. The use of a PVC spacer between the anode and cathode significantly reduces the size of the electrochemical cell and electrolyte required for its operation. Students will explore the physical and chemical properties of aluminum and anodized aluminum. They will…

Almost all commercial quadrupole ICP-MS instruments use collision/reaction cells to either attenuate spectral interferences or shift the analyte of interest to an interference-free "m/z" (e.g., by O addition). A laboratory practical was developed to introduce the students to the basic operating principles of ICP-MS using a hands-on…

Students commonly find the language of chemistry challenging and a barrier to developing understanding. This study investigated developments in chemical language understanding by a group of non-traditional students over the duration of a one year pre-undergraduate (Foundation) course at a UK university. The chemistry course was designed to include…

The 1st step in successfully intervening with students who may fail a course is to identify them as early as possible in the semester. The objective of this study was to create a model to predict student performance in FDSC 4304, the required capstone Food Chemistry class, using academic performance in prerequisite courses as potential predictors.…

Student misconceptions are an obstacle in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics courses and unless remediated may continue causing difficulties in learning as students advance in their studies. Writing-to-learn assignments (WTL) are characterized by their ability to promote in-depth conceptual learning by allowing students to explore…

Evolution is a unifying theory in biology and is challenging for undergraduates to learn. An instructor's ability to help students learn is influenced by pedagogical content knowledge (PCK), which is topic-specific knowledge of teaching and learning. Instructors need PCK for every topic they teach, which is a tremendous body of knowledge to…

This paper describes the results of a comparative study into the approaches used by science undergraduates when solving open-ended problems. This study adopted a pseudo-grounded theory framework to analyse six case studies, one from each of the science disciplines studied. The study involved 70 participants from 5 institutions solving open-ended…

This article aims to explore the impact of AR on the learning outcomes of college freshmen and their knowledge about the biology lab course. In a study, a basic biology lab course app was developed using AR technology. The students used this app to prepare for a basic biology lab course, and carry on self-learning without the help of instructors.…

The present study describes the development and field testing of a simple apparatus-based diagnostic instrument (SABDI) that examines undergraduate students' understanding of the underlying physics principles that explain how simple acoustic apparatuses work. SABDI comprises 13 items. Based on previous research studies and the history of science,…

Students in introductory science laboratory courses benefit from comprehensive technical writing instruction. Written communication is an important skill for people in the workforce as well as education; STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) students need to develop good technical writing skills, and most enter college with…

Participation in course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) allows students greater and equitable access to the high-impact practice, especially in the STEM disciplines. In a National Science Foundation-sponsored project, small groups of students completed authentic research projects in eight introductory to upper level geoscience…

While the equivalence between online and traditional classrooms has been well-researched, very little of this includes college-level introductory Physics. Only one study explored Physics at the whole-class level rather than specific course components such as a single lab or a homework platform. In this work, we compared the failure rate, grade…

To explore the differences between how organic chemistry students and organic chemistry professors think about organic chemistry reactions, we administered a card sort task to participants with a range of knowledge and experience levels. Beginning students created a variety of categories ranging from structural similarities to process oriented…

We report our research of seven pairs of students enrolled in the second semester of sophomore-level organic chemistry as they attempted to describe (in their own words) and draw, respectively, three electron-pushing diagrams of three-step reaction mechanisms. The tasks' objective was to accurately reproduce the diagrams based solely on the…

Tutorials/discussion classes are seen as an essential part of the teaching mix in the natural sciences, because that is where problems can be solved and course content is applied. Learning support provided by teaching assistants may free up the lecturer to do research, but are these assistants sufficiently well trained and well informed? Do…