A two-session experiment is designed to introduce undergraduate students to concepts in catalysis, transition metal complexes, polymer synthesis, and postpolymerization modifications. In the first session, students synthesize poly(glycidyl methacrylate) via low-catalyst-concentration atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP). The…

A very simple protocol for teaching Beer's Law and absorption spectrophotometry using a smart phone is described. Materials commonly found in high school chemistry laboratories or even around the house may be used. Data collection and analysis is quick and easy. Despite the simple nature of the experiment, excellent results can be achieved.

The 2015 edition of the American Chemical Society's "Guidelines and Evaluation Procedures for Bachelor's Degree Programs" identifies six skill sets that undergraduate chemistry programs should instill in their students. In our roles as support staff for chemistry departments at two different institutions (one a Primarily Undergraduate…

The university traditionally has been the foundation for young adults' professional development, yet the proclivity toward safety culture has garnered less focus in higher education than in the workforce. A survey of faculty at a medium-sized, research-active, private institution revealed specific areas of policy noncompliance as well as specific…

In-person teaching activities at the University of British Columbia's Okanagan campus were curtailed in the midst of a semester as a result of the global shutdowns imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic. All instruction shifted online, and this rapid transition to emergency remote teaching had negative impacts on student learning, engagement, and mental…

Process Oriented Guided Inquiry Learning (POGIL®) as a collaborative inquiry method has been widely used in teaching chemistry to high school and college students. This paper presents the impact of POGIL on 65 middle school students' understanding about nature of matter. It is a quasi-experimental non-equivalent control group design study in which…

Redox reactions are considered one of the most difficult chemistry subjects to teach and learn. However, this is an important content that permeates several topics and includes many everyday life-related phenomena. To understand the teaching and learning difficulties of the 'redox reactions' topic, a systematic literature review was conducted.…

Promoting students' attitudes, a part of affective domains is a major goal in higher education. Unfortunately, only a few studies were available related to the improvement of pre-service chemistry teachers' attitudes as this domain was rarely explored using a mixed teaching approach. In this quasi-experimental research, we investigated the effect…

The aim of this study is to better understand how teachers use various embodied semiotic modes -- speech, gestures, gaze, and proxemics -- when they present scientific content to the entire class. To analyse the multimodal practices of these teachers, we integrated the social semiotic theory of multimodality and the joint action theory in…

The "Next Generation Science Standards" and other educational reforms support the formation of deep connections across the STEM disciplines. Integrated STEM is considered as a best practice by the educational communities of the disparate disciplines. However, the integration of non-STEM disciplines is understudied and generally limited…

Teaching practical chemistry skills remotely is not a task that would have been high on the agenda only a few months ago. However, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, students around the world are having to work from home, and the chemistry education community has been forced to adapt to the new circumstances. In response, we discuss the use of…

A flipped chemistry class for middle school education majors was "unflipped" during the conversion from in-person to online-only instruction during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The process balanced the best practices of online education with practicality due to the short time frame. Successes and failures in the conversion…

Social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic presents mental health and academic obstacles for students. As mental health can strongly influence academic performance, addressing the loss of community by transitioning to distance education, midsemester, is imperative. This work draws upon the community and wellness benefits associated with online…

Thirty-six days after the beginning of the 2020 school year in Brazil, the Rio de Janeiro state education system began an unprecedented disruptive period due to the COVID-19 crisis, which abruptly affected general educational activities, particularly chemistry teaching. An adaptation to a new paradigm of remote teaching and massive use of online…

We evaluate the effectiveness of companion classes designed to support at-risk first-year students in introductory biology and chemistry within the University of California system. Companion classes (co-classes) are optional classes associated with large, gateway biology and chemistry courses (parent classes) and provide three hours of instruction…