This experiment presents a guided-inquiry approach to the demonstration of diastereoselectivity in an undergraduate organic chemistry laboratory. Chiral hindered ketones such as estrone, undergo facile reduction with sodium borohydride in a highly diastereoselective manner. The diastereomeric estradiols produced in the reaction can be analyzed and…

A two-week laboratory experiment for students in advanced inorganic chemistry is described. Students prepare and characterize a cobalt(III) complex coordinated by a thioether ligand during the first week of the experiment and then study the kinetics of Co-S bond cleavage in basic solution during the second week. The synthetic portion of the…

A novel method of localizing the direction of a source of sound has evolved in the auditory system of certain small parasitic flies. A mechanical model of this design has been shown to describe the system well. Here, a simplified version of this mechanical model is presented which demonstrates the key feature: direction estimates of high accuracy…

The complexity and interrelatedness of aspects of the geosciences is an important concept to convey in an undergraduate geoscience curriculum. A synthesis capstone project has served to integrate pattern-based learning of an introductory Earth History course into an active and process-based exercise in hypothesis production. In this exercise,…

Science requires imagination nourished by knowledge, experience and sustained critical thinking. Science teaching has the same requirements, but metacognition is even more important to a teacher than it is to a practitoner of science. Critical thinking is essential to both science and science teaching: in either domain, imagination relies on…

The absorption of beta rays from a radioactive source in different materials was investigated by the use of a simple setup based on a Geiger counter and a set of absorber sheets. The number of electrons traversing the material was measured as a function of its thickness. Detailed GEANT simulations were carried out to reproduce the obtained…

Our classrooms are filled with engineering majors who take a semester-long course in static equilibrium. Many students find this class too challenging and drop their engineering major. In our introductory physics class, we often breeze through static equilibrium; to physicists equilibrium is just a special case of Newton's second law. While it is…

Students following a pre-Certificate year in biology (the preliminary year of a 4-year BSc programme) learnt about plant diversity through integrated field and classroom studies carried out in an afforested area of north-east England. The students identified, listed and made interpretive drawings of their own choice of the specimens they had…

It is compulsory for first year biological science students at Queens University Belfast to complete a range of assessed, laboratory-based practicals in various scientific procedures including dissection. This study investigates student performance and attitudes when they have to complete a traditional dissection and a computer based learning…

Concepts and associated statistical formulae of incidence, prevalence, and odds/odds ratios are core knowledge in epidemiology yet can be confusing for students. The purpose of this project was to develop, validate, and share one possible pedagogical technique using playing cards that could be employed to improve undergraduate understanding of…

A series of interactive, instructional units have been developed that integrate computational molecular modelling and visualization to teach fundamental chemistry concepts and the relationship between the molecular and macro-scales. The units span the scale from atoms, small molecules to macromolecular systems, and introduce many of the concepts…

This paper examines the role of prior knowledge in first year performance of undergraduate chemistry, considering specifically the context of general student aptitude. Statistical testing shows that there were significant differences between the mean scores of students who have and those who have not prior knowledge of chemistry in semester tests…

Lewis structures are important for learning chemistry as they serve as an essential link between the structure of chemical compounds and their function. Unfortunately, the creation of valid Lewis structures remains an elusive goal for many students. In recent years, several web-based programs have been created that allow students to receive…

In this paper, we suggest strategies for instructors to use to prepare students for inquiry-based activities. Instructors should ensure that appropriate content material has been covered in lecture prior to implementing inquiry-based activities in the laboratory, and that support is provided to students as they transition from traditional to…

For many years, ethical misconduct has been long endured and difficult to address in the scientific community. To educate students about ethical misconduct in science, case studies were used in an ethics discussion board for a class group project. The objectives aimed to (i) familiarize students with the term "ethical misconduct", particularly in…