Solid-state nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy finds growing application to inorganic and organic materials, biological samples, polymers, proteins, and cellular membranes. However, this technique is often neither included in laboratory curricula nor typically covered in undergraduate courses. On the other hand, spectroscopy and…

Laboratory experience and skills are not only essential for success in science studies, but are the most exciting and rewarding aspects of science for students. As a result, many biology teachers have become critical of the efficacy of cookbook-type laboratory activities as well as the purposes, practices, and learning outcomes of lab experiments…

Through a modified team-based learning (TBL) in the anatomy pre-clerkship curriculum, formative evaluations are utilized in the University of Ottawa Faculty of Medicine to assess and predict students' outcomes on summative examinations. The purpose of this study was to determine the efficiency of formative assessments to predict student's…

Student-centered learning is generally defined as any instructional method that purportedly engages students in active learning and critical thinking. The student-centered method of teaching moves the focus from teaching to learning, from the teachers' conveying course concepts via lecture to the understanding of concepts by students. The…

Gravitational light deflection, predicted by general relativity, is a fascinating phenomenon with numerous important applications in astronomy, astrophysics and cosmology. At first sight, there is no analogous effect in electrodynamics because Maxwell's equations are linear and, therefore, a photon does not interact with the electromagnetic field…

A laboratory exercise using [superscript 27]Al NMR spectrometry to study the tetrahedral tetrahaloaluminate anions has been developed. Spectra of the homoleptic complexes [AlX[subscript 4]]-and the dihalide anions [AlX[subscript 4]Y[subscript 4-n]]-(X, Y = Cl, Br, or I) are acquired, then the pairwise-additivity concept developed by Vladimiroff…

A critical factor for the increased nucleophilicity of the pyridine nitrogen in 4-(dimethylamino)pyridine (DMAP) is electron donation via resonance from the amino group into the aromatic ring that increases electron density on the pyridine nitrogen. To explore how important this resonance effect is, 4-(dimethylaminomethyl)pyridine (DMAMP) was…

Sidman (1994) noted that the existence of a member that is common to more than one class may produce either class merger (union) or class intersection. A multiple-selection, matching-to-sample test was developed to examine the conditions under which these outcomes occur. Test trials each required three conditional discriminations involving…

Today's electrical and computer engineering graduates need marketable skills to work with electronic devices. Hands-on experiments prepare students to deal with real-world problems and help them to comprehend theoretical concepts and relate these to practical tasks. However, shortage of equipment, high costs, and a lack of human resources for…

This laboratory investigation challenges students to synthesize, analyze, and compare viable alternative fuels to Diesel No. 2 using a renewable resource, as well as readily available reagents and supplies. During the experiment, students synthesized biodiesel from soybean oil in an average percent yield of 83.8 ± 6.3%. They then prepared fuel…

This study aims to investigate the effect of integrating the Argument-Based Science Inquiry (ABSI) approach with multi-modal representations on students' achievement, and their argumentation and writing skills. The study was conducted with 62 female and 57 male college students at the Central Anatolian Turkish University. All participants were in…

College students in the non-English-speaking world have to overcome formidable barriers in reading and writing when their medium of instruction is English. One particular problem faced by science majors is the writing of lab reports, a demanding task that might not be effectively supported by the standard guides and manuals available. This paper…

This paper describes a study aimed at assessing the ability of report templates to help students learn key concepts during undergraduate laboratory classes. The report templates were designed so that a set of assessment questions led the students through the logical steps required to perform the laboratory exercise and to calculate the required…

We describe a laboratory experiment that employs the Nanoceria Reducing Antioxidant Capacity (or NanoCerac) Assay to introduce students to portable nanoparticle-based paper sensors for rapid analysis and field detection of polyphenol antioxidants. The experiment gives students a hands-on opportunity to utilize nanoparticle chemistry to develop…

Laboratory work is critical in undergraduate engineering courses. It is used to integrate theory and practice. This demands that laboratory activities are synchronized with lectures to maximize their derivable learning outcomes, which are measurable through assessment. The typical high costs of the traditional engineering laboratory, which often…