This study explores the relationship between teaching assistants (TAs) and student learning in undergraduate science laboratory classes. TAs typically instruct laboratory courses, yet little, if any, research examines professional development (PD) for TAs or relationships between instructors and students in laboratory settings. The use of…

This study was designed to evaluate the effectiveness of student-generated videos as a supplement to teaching assistant (TA) instruction in an undergraduate organic chemistry laboratory. Three videos covering different aspects of lab instruction (experimental technique, use of instrumentation, and calculations) were produced using…

In this research, the purpose was to examine and compare the effect of teaching Electric Current, which is a topic of grade 11 physics lesson, on student achievement and attitude according to the 5E model belonging to the constructivist learning theory and the traditional teaching method. The research was conducted in the spring semester of…

Switching genes between organisms and controlling an animal's brain using lasers may seem like science fiction, but with advancements in a technique called optogenetics, such experiments are now common in neuroscience research. Optogenetics combines recombinant DNA technology with a controlled light source to help researchers address…

Portions of classic undergraduate quantitative analysis experiments in complexiometric titration and potentiometry are combined with a field-sampling experience to create a two period (2 × 3 h) comparison-based experiment for second-year students. A multifunctional chemical analysis device is used with calcium ion-selective electrode for field…

A traditional organic chemistry laboratory experiment involves the acid-catalyzed isomerization of (-)-menthone to (+)-isomenthone. This experiment generates large quantities of organic and aqueous waste, and only allows the final ratio of isomers to be determined. A "green" modification has been developed that replaces the mineral acid…

Undergraduate curricula have increasingly incorporated sustainable and environmentally friendly approaches in the laboratory. Learning outcomes have emphasized the importance of the principles of green chemistry, but experiments may fail to impress upon the students that large-scale conversions of biomass into a spectrum of value-added products…

Herein, we describe the design and testing of two different home-built atomic layer deposition (ALD) systems for the growth of thin films with sub-monolayer control over film thickness. The first reactor is a horizontally aligned hot-walled reactor with a vacuum purging system. The second reactor is a vertically aligned cold-walled reactor with a…

The "FluSpec" educational software package is a fully contained tutorial on the technique of fluorescence spectroscopy as well as a simulator on which experiments can be performed. The procedure for each of the experiments is also contained within the package along with example analyses of results that are obtained using the software.

Undergraduate research clearly enriches the educational development of participating students, but these experiences are limited by the inherent inefficiency of the standard one student-one mentor model for undergraduate research. Group-effort applied research (GEAR) was developed as a strategy to provide substantial numbers of undergraduates with…

Mechanochemical syntheses avoid or considerably reduce the use of reaction solvents, thus providing green chemistry synthetic alternatives that are both environmentally friendly and economically advantageous. The increased solid-state reactivity generated by mechanical energy imparted to the reactants by grinding or milling can offer alternative…

Many single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) have been identified within the "Caenorhabditis elegans" genome. SNPs present in the genomes of two isogenic "C. elegans" strains have been routinely used as a tool in forward genetics to map a mutation to a particular chromosome. This article describes a laboratory exercise in which…

A laboratory exercise was designed to illustrate how physical stimuli such as temperature and light are sensed and processed by bacteria to elaborate adaptive responses. In particular, we use the well-characterized Des pathway of "Bacillus subtilis" to show that temperature modulates gene expression, resulting ultimately in modification…

When teaching physics, it is often difficult to get biology-oriented students to see the relevance of physics. A complaint often heard is that biology students are required to take physics for the Medical College Admission Test (MCAT) as part of a "weeding out" process, but that they don't feel like they need physics for biology. Despite…

Many high school and introductory college physics courses cover topics in fluidics through the Bernoulli and Poiseuille equations, and consequently one might think that siphons should present an excellent opportunity to engage students in various laboratory measurement exercises incorporating these fascinating devices. However, the flow rates (or…