A number of organisations have provided instructions on how to produce small quantities of liquid oxygen in the classroom using liquid nitrogen and a copper condensation coil (Lister 1995 "Classic Chemistry Demonstrations" (London: Royal Society of Chemistry) pp 61-2, French and Hibbert 2010 "Phys. Educ." 45 221-2). The method…

In this paper we present a reasoning line for introducing the Pauli exclusion principle in the context of an introductory course on quantum theory based on the sum over paths approach. We start from the argument originally introduced by Feynman in "QED: The Strange Theory of Light and Matter" and improve it by discussing with students…

A simple, microscale experiment was developed with the aim of demonstrating the concept of umpolung in synthetic organic chemistry. Starting from a common alkyl sulfinate, students perform a polarity inversion by performing a Grignard-based sulfoxide synthesis and a Mannich-type formamide synthesis. The products are purified without chromatography…

This paper reports on a learning program designed for high school chemistry classes that involves laboratory exercises using household oxygen bleaches. In this program, students are taught the chemistry of oxygen bleaches through a stepwise inquiry using laboratory exercises organized with different pedagogical intents. Through comparative…

Friction is an important phenomenon in everyday life. All children are familiar with playground slides, which may thus be a good starting point for investigating friction. Motion on an inclined plane is a standard physics example. This paper presents an investigation of friction by a group of 11-year olds. How did they plan their investigations?…

A physical organic chemistry experiment is described for second-year college students. Students performed nucleophilic aromatic substitution (NAS) reactions on 5,10,15,20-tetrakis(2,3,4,5,6-pentafluorophenyl)porphyrin (TPPF[subscript 20]) using three different nucleophiles. Substitution occurs preferentially at the 4-position ("para")…

Laboratory courses are often designed using step-by-step protocols which encourage students to conduct experiments without thinking about what they are doing or why they are doing it. Such course design limits the growth of our students as scientists and can make it more difficult for a student to transition to the expectations of a research…

Routinely used in quantitative determination of various analytes, UV-vis spectroscopy is commonly taught in undergraduate chemistry laboratory courses. Because the technique measures the absorbance of light through the samples, losses from reflection and scattering by large molecules interfere with the measurement. To emphasize the importance of…

Lab-on-a-chip technology is brought into the classroom through development of a lesson series with hands-on practicals. Students can discover the principles of microfluidics with different practicals covering laminar flow, micromixing, and droplet generation, as well as trapping and counting beads. A quite affordable novel production technique…

In the present paper, we have examined the impact of explicit linkage between simulated (i.e., virtual) and real (i.e., physical) experimental settings in order to scaffold conceptual understanding, in the case of floating and sinking (F/S) phenomena explanations. This research is part of a research-based curriculum project and has been…

It is commonly agreed that experiments play a central role in teaching and learning physics. Recently, Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL) has been introduced into science teaching in many countries, thus giving another boost for experiments. From a didactical point of view, experiments can serve a number of different goals in teaching and learning…

The appreciation and understanding of gas generation through processes is vital in biochemical education. In this work, an augmented reality tool is reported to depict the redox reaction between hydrogen peroxide and sodium hypochlorite solutions, two ubiquitous oxidizing agents, to create oxygen, a combustible gas. As it operates out of…

Thin-layer chromatography (TLC) is one of the basic analytical procedures in chemistry and allows the demonstration of various chemical principles in an educational setting. An often-overlooked aspect of TLC is the capability to quantify isolated target compounds in an unknown sample. Here, we present a suitable route to implement quantitative…

Experiments in pubs? Teaching chemical associations between beer and cola and arousing interest in science? Such a thing is possible in a place that at first sight seems very unorthodox as an out-of-school learning and teaching location. With the innovative scientific communication format "PubScience--The Long Night of Experiments",…

The ability to develop, use, and refine models of experimental systems is a nationally recognized learning outcome for undergraduate physics lab courses. However, no assessments of students' model-based reasoning exist for upper-division labs. This study is the first step toward development of modeling assessments for optics and electronics labs.…