Education in organic chemistry is highly reliant on molecular representations. Students abstract information from representations to make sense of submicroscopic interactions. This study investigates relationships between differing representations: bond-line structures, ball-and-stick, or electrostatic potential maps (EPMs), and predicting partial…

The effective implementation of evidence-based teaching (EBT) in large college courses benefits from the successful use of instructional teams. An instructional team's feedback allows instructors to act based on evidence of student learning, addressing students' needs. This feedback may be particularly important for novice instructors or…

Plant extracts and their components have been reported to have antimicrobial properties against phytopathogens. Although such properties could be harnessed for the development of new pathogen control strategies, there are no standardised methods for their assessment in different extracts. The laboratory exercise presented here involves the use of…

As the 21st century progresses, we are increasingly reminded of the importance of and need for green chemistry, which also leads to the corresponding need for green chemistry education. The UC Berkeley Department of Chemistry developed a green chemistry laboratory curriculum-the "General Chemistry Green Curriculum" ("GC[superscript…

The urea cycle disorder drug glycerol phenylbutyrate (Ravicti) is presently one of the most expensive medications in the United States, with annual costs estimated at $800,000 as of 2023. An expedient synthesis of this orphan drug was successfully adapted for the undergraduate organic chemistry laboratory. Activation of 4-phenylbutyric acid with…

Solving organic chemistry reactions requires reasoning with multiple concepts and data (i.e., multivariate reasoning). However, studies have reported that organic chemistry students typically demonstrate univariate reasoning. Case comparisons, where students compare two or more tasks, have been reported to support students' multivariate reasoning.…

Labs that incorporate a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) increase student gains in discovery, ownership, and scientific identity. One barrier for faculty developing CURE courses is finding support for the scientific and pedagogical methods necessary for offering a CURE. The Malate Dehydrogenase (MDH) CUREs Community (MCC) was…

We present a systematic review of 29 empirical studies on disability and fieldwork in natural science, postsecondary educational settings. Undergraduate students with disabilities are underrepresented in STEM, and disciplines requiring major field components are some of the least diverse, at least in part because fieldwork has been traditionally…

The increasing popularity of mobile devices as alternative tools for learning has led to the adoption of virtual laboratory simulation (VLab) to enhance practical learning experiences. This paper introduces an interactive mobile learning application designed to facilitate medical students in learning ear anatomy using a three-dimensional model.…

In this study, we evaluated the effect of student autonomy to ask the research question and course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) duration on student perceptions of research practices in the context of a CURE focused on evaluation of the microbiome of bean beetles. Instructors implemented the Bean Beetle Microbiome CURE at two…

Undergraduate science students face difficulties using mathematics in their physics courses. Choosing an institutional perspective, we consider that these students experience a permanent transition between mathematics in their mathematics courses and mathematics in their physics courses. We refer to the anthropological theory of the didactic and…

Biochemistry lecture and lab courses often contain enzyme kinetics as part of the curriculum, but do not regularly focus on interpreting the kinetic constants. Similarly, as we implement course-based undergraduate research experiences in our lab courses, we encourage our students to produce publication-quality images and determine the enzymatic…

The federal government and a number of nonprofit, non-governmental agencies have invested heavily in programs designed to provide research opportunities, financial support, and mentorship to undergraduates in science-related fields. These efforts are aimed at supporting students' matriculation in science majors and into science-related careers.…

Owing to the critical role of stereochemistry in biotechnology, medicine, and industry, it must be well represented in undergraduate lab curricula. To achieve these stereochemical laboratory requirements without sacrificing existing lab techniques, we modified two standard laboratory experiments to include chiral GC analysis as follows. (1) The…

An organic chemistry experiment designed for senior undergraduates focuses on bifunctional catalysis, a critical yet often omitted topic at the undergraduate level, but essential for advanced studies in chemistry. By utilization of a tertiary amine-thiourea catalyst in the asymmetric Michael addition reaction, the experiment showcases the…