This paper examines the representation of women in Irish Leaving Certificate Physics textbooks. Findings show that women are significantly underrepresented, both in terms of scientific characters (historic and current) described within the textbooks, and also in terms of more general non-scientific characters within the books. Furthermore,…

In this article we present a simple experimental set-up to determine the band gap of germanium and silicon using the "ExpEYES-17" kit. The experiment is based on the temperature dependence of the reverse current through germanium and silicon diodes at different temperatures. The experimental values are found to agree well with accepted…

This article presents a simple, fast, and equally accurate technique for measuring the area of a circle and of an ellipse without using geometric formulas. This therefore, together with the known radius of the circle and the semi-major and semi-minor axes of the ellipse, allows for the calculation of [pi]. The experiment is easy, thrilling, and…

A course centered around transition-metal catalysis in modern drug discovery was designed to illustrate the central role of organic chemistry in driving small-molecule drug development. The course highlighted both fundamental and applied concepts, first with a focus on the drug discovery process, followed by foundational principles in catalysis…

Research has shown that the use of practical examples in undergraduate education promotes the retention of historically underrepresented students in STEM majors and lowers achievement gaps within courses. Since many students of color and women aspire toward careers in healthcare and the pharmaceutical industry, efforts to incorporate medicinal…

We describe here a 4 hour experimental session based on reaction monitoring of the degradation of an organic pollutant via a Fenton-like reaction. An aqueous solution of p-nitrophenol is treated with hydrogen peroxide and magnetite, and the progress of the reaction is monitored by UV-vis spectrophotometry and/or gas chromatography using an…

Assumptions about the feasibility of teaching chemistry laboratories online have been challenged by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. We argue that, despite the fact that pandemic social distancing restrictions will be eventually eliminated, the development of quality digital laboratory resources must continue to receive attention from the chemistry…

This essay takes up a question that was left unanswered in the paper by Parsons and Morton, namely, why the African American students interviewed in the study described their best teachers as they did. The theoretical perspectives of Rogoff and Boykin are applied to show the importance of culturally resonant science classrooms that hum with the…

Integration is an important, albeit difficult, goal of science and mathematics education. This paper presents a framework and a research design proposal to identify preservice teachers' (PSTs) integration performance of science and mathematics (IPoSM). It also presents the classification of PSTs' level of integration in each phase of a…

Undergraduate physics laboratory exercises are very important in shaping students' attitude to science, especially for future teachers. Recently, it is necessary to look for ways to easily create large quantities of experimental sets, not only for institutional use, but also for sets that can be produced in large quantities and distributed for use…

Recent work has shown that retrieval hints can make test trials more enjoyable without sacrificing learning. We investigated the extent to which this effect was moderated by hint strength. Both experiments utilized a within-participants design. In Experiment 1 (n = 41), participants studied skeletal charts highlighting a bone region. After study,…

Chemical reasoning takes many forms. The focus in this paper is on a reasoning process that facilitates using experimental evidence to make connections between macroscopic and submicroscopic domains, which we will refer to as "creating representation." It is a particular type of reasoning that has played a critical role in chemistry,…

This paper presents a series of experiments that focus on light polarization and polarimetry. Such experiments were conducted with the use of commercial Polaroids, light sensors, and laser pointers, and were designed for an undergraduate food science students physics lab.

For years there has been an acknowledged interest in having students assess the rationality of their solutions to physics problems. In fact, many textbooks now routinely include end-of-problem assessments as part of the authors' detailed solutions to examples. Over the past two decades, I have experimented with various forms of end-of-problem…

Science teaching anxiety is negative emotion that inhibits a teacher's ability to start, proceed, or finish a science teaching task. Despite its detrimental effects on teachers' science teaching quality and practices, there is limited research on science teaching anxiety. To advance research in this area, there is a need for a psychometrically…