With the enormous reliance on plastics in the world today, bisphenol A, an additive used in the synthesis of many plastics, such as polycarbonate, has been found almost everywhere in our environment including in soil, in natural waters, and inside organisms including humans. A multidisciplinary experiment is presented that involves using flatworms…

One particular challenge in chemistry learning is developing students' atomic level understanding of chemical processes. It is necessary to help students learn how to critique atomic models rather than accept them as ''truth.'' In this study, we used a resources-based framework to examine how students made sense of macroscopic level information to…

Using polymerizable cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) paints, we prepare circularly polarized freestanding films that enable students to acquire a basic understanding of circular polarization and molecular chirality. The polymerized helical structures of CLC films can exhibit brilliant structural colors by selective reflection of visible light…

The basic SIR (susceptible-infectious-removed) model of epidemiology is presented in chemical kinetic terms with a simple two-reaction mechanism. The conditions for the development of epidemics, the course of a simple closed epidemic, and the bases of several mitigation strategies are described in terms of the underlying first- and second-order…

X-rays are such an important and familiar part of the electromagnetic spectrum, but is there a way to safely bring x-rays into your lecture? The demo team at the University of California at Berkeley seems to have managed this. They have an x-ray safe box that they use to produce a live x-ray image on a fluorescent screen. In this article, we…

While several engineering and science disciplines, including biology and environmental science, have greatly benefited from adopting a systems thinking approach, its extension to chemistry education is a much more recent advancement. The initial body of literature in this direction has largely surveyed the feasibility for systems thinking in…

To investigate the variation in active learning used in college science courses, the authors analyzed 57 comparison studies published in three prominent science education journals. Focusing on three sources of variation--(a) the active learning activities, (b) other pedagogical features, and (c) course structure/design--they found that most…

Broadly speaking, many physicists value intuition in their work, and many instructors hope their students develop intuition (while possibly being wary of their initial, unrefined intuitions). These considerations are especially relevant in quantum mechanics, a subject many see as counterintuitive because it is removed from classical everyday…

Concepts relating to enzymes and energy are central to understanding chemical and biological processes at the molecular level. Student learning of these crosscutting concepts can be challenging, so it is important to identify misconceptions and remediate them early, especially in introductory classes. Here we describe an activity in which…

This study investigates students' cognitive resources for identifying symmetry elements using survey data collected from 39 inorganic chemistry students from twelve undergraduate inorganic classes at universities across the United States. We propose a framework that leverages students' knowledge of symmetry elements as a manifold of cognitive…

The paper describes an upper-division university course in Mars literature taught online since Fall 2013. The course readings comprise six novels relating to Mars. Authors include H.G. Wells, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Ray Bradbury, Phillip K. Dick, Greg Bear, and Kim Stanley Robinson. After an introduction, sections of the paper discuss course…

We present here two accessible ways for enhanced understanding of complex biological structures and their function in undergraduate Biology and Biochemistry classrooms. These methods can be applied for in-class instruction as well as for remote lessons, as they are cheap, easily available and easy to implement. LEGO® bricks and MERGE CUBE based…

This study investigated the influence of practical problem-solving tasks (PPST) in promoting meaningful learning (ML) and retention in a nonlaboratory chemistry component of a physical science course for pre-service teachers (PSTs). It utilized a mixed-methods research using a modified quasi-experimental design followed by a detailed analysis of…

The present study has two main goals. First, it aims to examine the analogies an instructor uses about "DNA conservation across generations" in a university-level General Biology course. Second, it aims to examine the analogies used in those lessons according to Thiele and Treagust's framework. A qualitative case study design is adopted…

Lab activities are a vital part of physics courses, providing students with hands-on experiences of classroom topics. At the same time, building self-efficacy is vital to student learning and retention; however, females traditionally have lower self-efficacy in STEM fields. This research explores the role of gender and the changes in interest in…