This essay examines some aspects of the teaching of mathematics and its applications in three of the principal sixteenth century Spanish universities (Salamanca, Valencia and Alcala) and in other institutions sponsored by the monarchy, such as the "Casa de la Contratacion" (House of Trade) of Seville and the so-called Academy of…

The Kirby-Bauer method is regularly used to test bacterial susceptibility to antibiotics, and is often employed in the classroom for teaching this concept. In this exercise, additional materials and instructions were given to students for the preparation of garlic extract and loading on blank BBL paper discs. They were further instructed to test…

In 1993 two of the authors of this article published a survey of introductory biology laboratory instruction in colleges and universities of the U.S. in order to document the status of laboratory instruction, and in particular, the use of inquiry based instruction. In this article, the authors present a survey that examined the changes that may…

In the summers of 1997, 1998, and 1999, we gave attendees (N=44) at a workshop called Teaching Astronomy Conceptually a cognitive task: to rank 200 concepts often taught in "Astronomy 101." Prior to these workshops, we asked an expert panel (N=18) of Astronomy 101 teachers to also rank these concepts. Among the workshop participants, the…

The isolation and characterization of mutants has been crucial in understanding a number of processes in the field of cell biology. In this exercise, students examine the effects of mutations in the secretory pathway on protein localization. Yeast strains deficient for synthesis of histidinol dehydrogenase are transformed with a plasmid encoding a…

Stereospecific synthesis of a geometrical isomer is not a common topic for the introductory organic chemistry laboratory. We have developed and tested an experiment for the synthesis of (Z) and (E) isomers that has been performed successfully by undergraduate students. The experiment is presented to the students as a puzzle in which they must…

A course module in general chemistry focusing on predicting the products of simple inorganic reactions is described. This component of the course is intended to be presented near the end of the last term of the general chemistry sequence and is designed to afford practice in applying the variety of principles encountered throughout the general…

Recrystallization of benzoic acid is an excellent way to remove insoluble impurities. In a traditional organic laboratory experiment, insoluble impurities are removed through the recrystallization of benzoic acid utilizing water as the recrystallization solvent. It was our goal to develop a peer-led, problem-solving organic laboratory exercise…

Restriction enzymes are basic tools in recombinant DNA technology. To shape the molecular biology experiments, the students must know how to work with these molecular scissors. Here, we describe an integrated set of experiments, introduced in the "Advances in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology" postgraduate course, which covers the important…

A small class of functions is described that easily lend themselves to two-dimensional and three-dimensional visualizations at the basic calculus level. The intended audience is those educators involved in the instruction of elementary calculus. This note is an educational piece that begins with the question: "What happens if a function defined on…

A three-hour laboratory experiment, designed for an advanced undergraduate course in instrumental analysis that illustrates the application of the gradient chamber flow-injection titration (GCFIT) method with spectrophotometric detection to determine acidity constants is presented. The procedure involves the use of an acid-base indicator to obtain…

An experiment related to the measurement of fluorescence lifetime for an undergraduate instrumental analysis or physical chemistry laboratory that highlights relative rates of electronic transitions in molecules and introduces students to data collection of a pulsed signal is illustrated. The experiment of the long fluorescence lifetime of…

In 2003 the Government set out its vision and agenda for 14-19 education in the Green Paper "14-19: Opportunity and Excellence". As a result, the DfES asked the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) to revise its programme of study for science at Key Stage 4 (14-16). These revisions come into force in September 2006 and schools…

Given that enhancing the motivation of young people for science is a widely shared goal, the question posed is how to raise intellectual satisfaction among students by showing the consistency and conciseness of physical theories. I argue that certain rituals in our teaching practices can make physical theories seem inconsistent, even absurd. Using…

I developed writing assignments for an introductory ecology class to encourage nonmajors to improve their writing skills and gain an appreciation for environmental issues. Statistical analyses suggest that during the semester, students' writing skills, their ability to write accurately about the environment, and their environmental behavior all…