A low-cost portable fluorimeter was constructed using a 360 nm LED for excitation and a silicon photodiode for detection. The instrument is simple to operate and has been used to investigate fluorescent whitening agents extracted from various brands of paper, to determine the linear range and limit of detection of quinine in various commercial…

This study compared the educational effects of computer simulations developed in a hyper-realistic virtual environment with the educational effects of either traditional schematic simulations or a traditional optics laboratory. The virtual environment was constructed on the basis of Java applets complemented with a photorealistic visual output.…

The Gates Foundation has given more than US$100 million to establish approximately 160 early college high schools (ECHSs) across the nation. The ECHS goal, to send traditionally low-performing students to college early and graduate them with 2 years of college credit, has been widely recognized for its constructive potential. However, not all EHCS…

Laboratory experiments are often considered the defining characteristic of science courses. Such activities provide students with real-world contexts for applying scientific concepts, while also allowing them to develop scientific ways of thinking and promoting an interest in science. In recent years, an increasing number of campuses have moved…

This article describes ways to incorporate high-precision measurements of the specific gravities of minerals into undergraduate courses in mineralogy and physical geology. Most traditional undergraduate laboratory methods of measuring specific gravity are suitable only for unusually large samples, which severely limits their usefulness for student…

Evolutionary theory is the foundation of the biological sciences, yet conveying it to General Biology students often presents a challenge, especially at larger institutions where student numbers in foundation courses can exceed several hundred per lecture section. We present a pedagogically sound exercise that utilizes a series of simple and…

This article gives a brief history of fire-walking and then deals with the physics behind fire-walking. The author has performed approximately 50 fire-walks, took the data for the world's hottest fire-walk and was, at one time, a world record holder for the longest fire-walk (www.dwilley.com/HDATLTW/Record_Making_Firewalks.html). He currently…

A great deal has long been known about student difficulties connecting real-world experiences with what they are learning in their physics classes, making learning basic ideas of classical physics challenging. Understanding these difficulties has led to the development of many instructional approaches that have been shown to help students make…

As infrared spectroscopy (IR) is frequently used in undergraduate organic chemistry courses, an inductive introduction to IR spectroscopy that uses index cards printed with spectra, structures, and chemical names is described. Groups of students are given an alphabetized deck of these "IR cards" to sort into functional groups. The students then…

Across the United States many chemistry departments are engaged in developing assessment plans. New guidelines from the American Chemical Society (ACS) Committee on Professional Training request a department's latest self-assessment and a plan for acting on the recommendations. This manuscript describes assessment practices at institutions ranging…

This study explores how adding environmental perspectives to a developmental chemistry course affected student learning of both general chemistry and environmental chemistry concepts. In addition to measuring learning changes, changes in students' environmental attitudes and behaviors were also measured. A pretest-posttest design measured…

We developed a modular pair of experiments for use in the undergraduate physical chemistry and biochemistry laboratories. Both experiments examine the thermodynamics of the binding of a small molecule, eosin Y, to the protein lysozyme. The assay for binding is the quenching of lysozyme fluorescence by eosin through resonant energy transfer. In…

There are relatively few experiments describing the NMR properties of bis(amine) iron(II) phthalocyanine complexes. Several features make this experiment attractive: First, it nicely illustrates the diamagnetic anisotropy phenomena, providing both students and teachers an opportunity to gain insight into aspects such as phase correction and…

Chemical information instruction (CII) has been recommended by the ACS Committee on Professional Training as a necessary component of the chemistry curriculum for both undergraduate and graduate students. Surveys conducted by the ACS Chemical Information Division (CINF) Education Committee in 1984 and 1993 showed the extent that CII had become…

This laboratory activity is a mechanistic exploration of the interactions between electronically deficient organometallic compounds and solvent molecules. Simple kinetics experiments designed to explore the mechanism of C[subscript 60] fullerene-benzene exchange on Ir(([eta][superscript 2]-C[subscript 60])(CO)(Cl)(PPh[subscript 3])[subscript 2]…