COVID-19 public health measures have forced educators to adapt their courses to an online or hybrid presentation format with laboratory components facing particular challenges. We surmised that having introductory organic chemistry students orally present selected faculty literature publications would provide a flexible alternative to our final…

There are increasing calls for the use of research-based teaching strategies to improve engagement and learning in engineering. In this innovation paper, we detail the application of research-based teaching strategies in a computer programming focused biomedical engineering module. This four-week, one-credit undergraduate biomedical engineering…

Here, we describe the implementation a hybrid general chemistry teaching laboratory curriculum that replaces a portion of a course's traditional "wet lab" experiences with online virtual lab modules. These modules intentionally utilize representations on all three levels of the chemistry triplet-macroscopic, submicroscopic, and symbolic.…

The purpose of this research was to design and develop hands-on practical physics activity for the determination of relationship between the fundamental frequency and wavelength of standing waves using open or closed resonance tubes. In this study, an innovative use of smartphone device for the hands-on practical activity was developed with the…

The present study describes the design of a simple teaching module for each student to fabricate a dye-sensitized solar cell (DSSC) that could power a small fan motor. The significance of this laboratory exercise is to stimulate students' motivation by visualizing the light being converted into electricity, which is then switched over to kinetic…

Chemical safety management is an iterative process where reviews of safety deficiencies (e.g., inspection notes) and failures (e.g., injuries) guide improvement efforts. The present work investigates safety in the school chemistry laboratory through two substudies. First, we interviewed 10 Swedish middle and high school chemistry teachers about…

This paper summarizes my experience with teaching a first-year, General Chemistry course to a visually impaired student. This includes accommodations and modifications for both the lecture material and the laboratory. Included are also examples of formats and syntax for txt-based quizzes, tests, and laboratory reports, as well as other general…

We present an educational approach to the phenomenon of phosphorescent emission. The approach is based on a stochastic toy model, in which electron states are represented by rows of squares on a cardboard table, and coins on the squares switch from one row to the other based on the roll of two dice. The discussion of different mechanisms, giving…

Background: In college science laboratory and discussion sections, student-centered active learning strategies have been implemented to improve student learning outcomes and experiences. Research has shown that active learning activities can increase student anxiety if students fear that they could be negatively evaluated by their peers. Error…

Over the past four years, a Howard Hughes Medical Institute (HHMI) Inclusive Excellence grant supported Delaware State University (DSU) to increase student success and foster faculty development in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields. One component of this grant has provided students, particularly early sequence…

In response to increasingly diverse student groups in U.S. schools, educational researchers have developed curricula that respond to students' unique needs, cultures, and experiences. Curricula that embrace a pedagogy of empowerment are known as Culturally Responsive Curricula (CRC), and such curricula specific to science are referred to as…

Monitoring students in Learning Management Systems (LMS) throughout the teaching--learning process has been shown to be a very effective technique for detecting students at risk. Likewise, the teaching style in the LMS conditions, the type of student behaviours on the platform and the learning outcomes. The main objective of this study was to test…

Out-of-school labs (OSLs) aim to foster students' interest in and knowledge about scientific ways of thinking and working by engaging them in authentic activities that emulate processes of scientific inquiry. However, research has not yet focused on investigating whether students perceive those activities as authentic and whether students'…

This study examined whether associations exist between PA intensity, self-regulation, and indicators of school readiness, a proxy for academic achievement, in young children. Thirty young children completed assessments of physical activity, school readiness indicators, and self-regulation. Physical activity intensity was classified as light,…

Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) has become an important tool in the biological sciences and has a growing number of applications across medical fields. Currently, few undergraduate programs provide training in the design and implementation of NGS applications. Here, we describe an inquiry-based laboratory exercise for a college-level molecular…