Lab activities have been innovated and progressed to fulfill the purpose that students need to experience physics concepts through hands-on and minds-on interactions. However, student-centered and conceptual activities in physics labs are challenged with time and material constraints that degrades the merits of the learning environment. This study…

Experimental skills should be acquired by learners at school and university alike. To promote experimental skills, various approaches exist within a spectrum between implicit and explicit instruction. Regarding these instructional approaches, numerous findings are available which predominantly relate to pupils. It is an open question whether it is…

It is a human fundamental to desire to be valued, loved and respected--to be significant. Social exclusion induce significance loss which elicits a 'quest for significance'--the search for opportunities to re-gain significance. The present article establishes this relation in a laboratory experiment (N = 71, mean age = 28, SD = 10.42, 65% women,…

The "radioactive dice" experiment is a commonly used classroom analogue to model the decay of radioactive nuclei. However, the value of the half-life obtained from this experiment differs significantly from that calculated for real nuclei decaying exponentially with the same decay constant. This article attempts to explain the discrepancy and…

A simple experiment was devised to let students determine the solubility and solubility product, "K"[subscript sp], of calcium sulfate dihydrate in a first-level laboratory. The students experimentally work on an intriguing equilibrium law: the constancy of the product of the ion concentrations of a sparingly soluble salt. The determination of…

Genome scale experiments routinely produce large data sets that require computational analysis, yet there are few student-based labs that illustrate the design and execution of these experiments. In order for students to understand and participate in the genomic world, teaching labs must be available where students generate and analyze large data…

In this project, we explore the use of threshold concept theory as a design basis for development of Interactive Virtual Laboratories in thermodynamics. Thermodynamics is a difficult subject for chemical and biological engineering students to master. One reason for the difficulty is the diverse and challenging set of threshold concepts that they…

A laboratory experiment is described in which students synthesize a variety of cationic gemini surfactants and analyze their efficacy as fabric softeners. Students perform a simple organic synthesis reaction and two analytical tests (one qualitative and one quantitative), and use the class data to assess the synthesized products. The experiment…

Many studies illustrate the positive influences of undergraduate research experiences on student learning, attitudes, and retention in the sciences. At our institution, over 90% of the biology majors surveyed reported a desire to participate in undergraduate research, but only 3% per year have the opportunity to work in a traditional…

In recent years, accreditation standards for international engineering education have led to a dramatic rise in the use of outcome-based education at universities. In this system, enticing new undergraduate students to science and engineering, although challenging, is the first important step toward building students' career competencies. An…

Carrying out classroom experiments that demonstrate Boyle's law and Gay-Lussac's law can be challenging. Even if we are able to conduct classroom experiments using pressure gauges and syringes, the results of these experiments do little to illuminate the kinetic theory of gases. However, molecular dynamics simulations that run on computers allow…

Learning quantum mechanics is challenging, even for upper-level undergraduate and graduate students. Research-validated interactive tutorials that build on students' prior knowledge can be useful tools to enhance student learning. We have been investigating student difficulties with quantum mechanics pertaining to the double-slit experiment in…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to discuss the use of stereoscopic virtual technology in textile and fashion studies in particular to the area of chemical experiment. The development of a designed virtual platform, called Stereoscopic Chemical Laboratory (SCL), is introduced. Design/methodology/approach: To implement the suggested…

A laboratory experiment in which students study the kinetics of the Viscozyme-L-catalyzed hydrolysis of cellulose and starch comparatively was designed for an upper-division biochemistry laboratory. The main objective of this experiment was to provide an opportunity to perform enhanced enzyme kinetics data analysis using appropriate informatics…

Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) are becoming an increasingly popular choice for education but, to reach their full extent, they require the resolution of new issues like assessing students at scale. A feasible approach to tackle this problem is peer assessment, in which students also play the role of assessor for assignments submitted by…