Despite extensive conceptualization of ions as hard spheres in most textbooks, solid-state structures are more accurately modeled as overlapping soft spheres that better reflect the size of the ions. The corresponding soft-sphere ionic radii of alkali and halide ions can be empirically established from the partial molar volume of the ions in…

There are some crucial critiques on "scientific inquiry" and "the" Scientific Method in current science education. Recent research literature is replete with arguments against inquiry's legitimacy to be included in science classes, and it has even been abandoned from the Next "Generation Science Standards." Critics of…

Teleological reasoning is viewed as a major hurdle to evolution education, and yet, eliciting, interpreting, and reflecting upon teleological language presents an arguably greater challenge to the evolution educator and researcher. This article argues that making explicit the role of behavior as a causal factor in the evolution of particular…

The flow of air around a baseball and over the seam acts to slow the ball and to deflect it sideways. Turbulent flow can be visualized, and sideways deflection of the ball can be observed clearly if the ball is dropped in a glass fish tank and filmed with a high-speed camera. Results are presented for a baseball and also for a billiard ball with a…

Using polymerizable cholesteric liquid crystal (CLC) paints, we prepare circularly polarized freestanding films that enable students to acquire a basic understanding of circular polarization and molecular chirality. The polymerized helical structures of CLC films can exhibit brilliant structural colors by selective reflection of visible light…

Teaching fluorescence aims to deeply communicate light-matter interactions. The main fluorescence concepts are covered in undergraduate courses and are difficult to comprehend as the proper lighting conditions for seeing it by the naked eye are rarely found in daily life. Here, we present a lab activity to explore fluorescence using homemade…

Traditional undergraduate biochemical laboratory curricula are confronted with challenges in improving student-learning outcomes while incorporating exciting and thought-provoking research-based laboratories due to limitations with time, increased student enrollment, and high-cost laboratory resources. However, with specialized biochemical…

Over 200 years ago, Alessandro Volta published his observations of a steady voltage when a piece of electrolyte-soaked cardboard was sandwiched between two dissimilar metals. This observation initiated a century of argument as to the origin of voltaic electricity (contact vs chemical) and catalyzed practical advances, such as the first…

The basic SIR (susceptible-infectious-removed) model of epidemiology is presented in chemical kinetic terms with a simple two-reaction mechanism. The conditions for the development of epidemics, the course of a simple closed epidemic, and the bases of several mitigation strategies are described in terms of the underlying first- and second-order…

In the museum wing of the Greenslade house is a clock with a two-second pendulum about one meter long. This ticks once per second, and every time it passes through dead center it completes an electrical circuit. When I came to Kenyon in 1964, this system was used to send signals to a series of telegraph relays, which ticked once per second.…

While several engineering and science disciplines, including biology and environmental science, have greatly benefited from adopting a systems thinking approach, its extension to chemistry education is a much more recent advancement. The initial body of literature in this direction has largely surveyed the feasibility for systems thinking in…

The coefficient of restitution (COR) for a collision is usually a number between 0 and 1 depending on whether the collision is completely inelastic, or perfectly elastic or something in between. That is the usual situation for colliding spheres or a ball dropped on a horizontal surface. A different situation arises when a bat collides with a ball.…

In this article, the author aims to open up thinking about a frequently used term -- disadvantage -- and to consider it in relation to the primary science classroom teaching and learning experiences. With the support of education charities such as the Comino Foundation and the SHINE Trust, the author discusses how her team has been exploring the…

This study focuses on the experimental demonstration of the definition of kelvin using a triple point of water (TPW) cell and estimates the measurement uncertainty. The first part of this article is to construct the measurement setup and perform the measurements. The second stage is related with the calculation of uncertainty according to guides…

The fundamental mechanism of biochemistry lies on the reaction kinetics, which is determined by the reaction pathways. Interestingly, the reaction pathway is a challenging concept for undergraduate students. Experimentally, it is difficult to observe, and theoretically, it requires some degree of physics knowledge, namely statistical and quantum…