The purpose of this article is to outline some activities using resources that can generally be found in most kitchens and involve very little expense. It is based upon a workshop at the 2019 International Primary Science Education Conference (PSEC) in Edinburgh, which consisted of a wide variety of demonstrations of science in action, where…

Learning standards for K-12 science education emphasize the importance of engaging students in practices that scientists perform in their profession. K-12 teachers are expected to engage students in scientific modeling, which entails constructing, testing, evaluating, and revising their own models of science phenomena while pursuing an epistemic…

Teaching pedagogical content knowledge (PCK) at a topic-specific level requires clarity on the content-specific nature of the components employed, as well as the specific features that bring about the desirable depth in teacher explanations. Such understanding is often hazy; yet, it influences the nature of teacher tasks and learning opportunities…

The Michelson interferometer is one of the key experiments in modern physics when it comes to the topic of interference (Box 1). Experiments using interferometry have a high historic relevance as well as uses in current areas of research (quantum erasers, gravitational wave detection) and are used in higher education. Because of the high cost of…

The concept of an atom with an expanded octet, known as hypervalency, has persisted in the general chemistry curriculum, despite abundant theoretical work disputing its veracity. Here, the electronic structure of traditionally hypervalent molecules (H[subscript 2]SO[subscript 3], H[subscript 2]SO[subscript 4], PF[subscript 5], and SF[subscript 6])…

In multielectron atoms or molecules, quantized electronic energy states known as term states provide a framework for interpreting absorption and emission spectra. Enumerating the term states associated with any particular electron configuration is possible using time-honored procedures, but the underpinnings of the methods do not always receive…

In early January 2018, after days of subfreezing temperatures, a 20 m waterfall became mostly frozen with supercooled water pouring over the top of the frozen parts of the fall. A video was taken of the waterfalls and supercooled turbulent water flowing on the frozen surface as it turned into frazil ice right before our eyes. Frazil ice consists…

This paper demonstrates the use of smartphones in an experiment of light absorption and light scattering. The LED display and camera of the smartphone are used as the light source and as the detector, respectively. The color wheel is used to choose the color of the light source to be shone through the sample for analysis. The detector directly…

Physics is directly related to various professions since it is a fundamental science. Opticianry is one of such physics related professions. In this study, it was aimed to determine the conceptual understanding levels of opticians related to the concepts of light and optics which are directly related to their professions. In the study, which was…

Flow cytometry has become an important tool in the life sciences and medical fields, yet there are often few opportunities for undergraduate students to receive training with this type of instrumentation as part of life science curricula at many colleges and universities. We describe a straightforward laboratory exercise designed for a…

To engage meaningfully with scientific models, undergraduate students must come to understand what counts as a scientific model and why. To gain a sense of the characteristics that undergraduate chemistry students ascribe to scientific models, we analyzed survey data that address students' ideas about both model criteria in general and criteria…

A new device for teaching the physics of sound, specifically demonstrating the wavelengths of standing sound waves, is here described. I define a "Lincoln's Tube" as any hollow tube that uses lights (LEDs typically) to demonstrate the presence of sound standing waves. The name is chosen intentionally to recall a Ruben's Tube or a Kundt's…

Raman spectroscopy is an important vibrational spectroscopy tool to characterize chemical compounds. As only a few photons undergo Raman scattering, enhancement of signal is a vital requirement. In this laboratory experiment, some practical aspects of Raman spectroscopy and how a simple enhancement procedure can be used to detect a Raman signal…

The design and operation of the vapor-absorption refrigerator (VAR) are described using the principles and tools typically covered in upper-division undergraduate physical chemistry courses. The objective is to enable students to understand in detail how this device works and how it compares with more typical vapor-compression refrigerators.…

Keto-enol tautomerism is a fundamental concept that examines the migration of a proton between two constitutional isomers, the keto and enol tautomer. Many experiments have been proposed to understand the concept behind Meyer's Rule, which states that the keto tautomer is favored as the solvent polarity increases. However, all the experiments have…