All-solid-state polymer electrolytes (SPEs) have been regarded as an advisible alternative for simultaneously overcoming the safety issues and high energy density demands presented in traditional lithium batteries, and they represent the development orientation of energy storage devices. This course describes the preparation of a cross-linked and…

An online virtual escape-room game was created using the Google Forms survey app for an undergraduate chemistry lab class. Zoom video conferencing service was used to make the activity a collaborative learning experience. The theme was an escape from an abandoned chocolate factory, and the students solved problems to move to the next section or…

Secondary metabolite compounds contained in each plant genus have certain characteristics, which is true also of the flavonoid in the genus "Artocarpus." In the experiment described here, third-year undergraduate students performed the isolation and characterization of cycloartocarpin from the roots of "Artocarpus altilis"…

According to the definition, surface tension could be affected not only by intermolecular interaction but also by molecular area. However, in chemistry textbooks, surface tension is mainly explained only in terms of intermolecular interaction. Although the existing surface tension concept in the textbooks can lead to a variety of counterexamples,…

The demand for sustainable synthetic methods has motivated the development of a myriad of strategies for substrate oxidation chemistry that reflect the goals of green chemistry. Here we present a two-part laboratory module that provides undergraduate chemistry students hands-on experience with the concepts of sustainable chemistry in the context…

A virtual reality (VR) session was introduced to an advanced inorganic chemistry class, a class available to junior and senior undergraduate students at the University of California, Los Angeles. The VR session helped the students to learn complicated aspects of metal coordination chemistry and molecular orbitals via an immersive three-dimensional…

A classic undergraduate introductory experiment is to measure the diffraction and interference pattern from single and double slits to determine slit width and separation. Studies show that Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) can make science more inclusive when offered at the undergraduate level. Additionally, CUREs help…

A laboratory exercise for the synthesis of a sulfonated styrene-"co"-maleic anhydride polymer and its application as a stain blocker on nylon-6,10, is described. The effectiveness of the sulfonated polymer to prevent the conjugate base of an acid dye from staining the polyamide is demonstrated. This experiment is designed for…

Improving student success rates in introductory calculus and physics courses is critically important for our students' path in STEM fields. Many of the students who have an intuitive understanding of physics fail calculus and are pushed to delay or drop their majors in technical fields. One way of addressing this issue is by adopting a program…

To study the absorption of ultrasound in plexiglas we propose to use gadgets that are available to each student: an ultrasound humidifier, a liquid crystal display of a pad, a polaroid analyzer, a digital camera, a multimeter with thermocouple, and a stopwatch. These devices allow us to visualize a region in plexiglas where ultrasound is absorbed…

Although teaching laboratories offer students the opportunity to act and think like chemists, in many cases students simply follow written procedures to generate predetermined outcomes. In recent years, there has been a movement toward inquiry-, problem-, and discovery-based learning. In a similar vein, the first-semester introductory organic…

STEM is about the integration of science, technology, engineering and mathematics. To teach STEM effectively, students need practical examples of subject integration. A good example is the use of an electron microscope in teaching physics and biology. An electron microscope is an instrument in which the operation depends on electromagnetism and…

The design of undergraduate laboratory courses that provide meaningful research-based experiences enhances undergraduate curricula and prepares future graduate students for research careers. In this article, a course-based undergraduate research experience (CURE) laboratory module was designed for upper-division undergraduate biochemistry and…

Newton's law of cooling describes an object whose temperature decreases exponentially with time. Because of its many applications, it is a frequent topic of introductory physics labs. In this article, I describe an experiment designed for the freshman year algebra-based physics course that applies this law to answering the question, "Why…

Whereas extensive studies have examined the effectiveness of inquiry-based learning in chemistry education, few have tracked undergraduate performance throughout the college chemistry curricula. In this study, we describe an instructional model of conceptual learning and inquiry-based practices (CLIP) and assess students' transformation of…