A laboratory exercise was developed for the study of the effect of three cations (Al, Ca, and Na) on the flocculation and dispersion of soil particles. The exercise was designed for Soil Science undergraduate students in the second-course in the Agricultural Engineering and Environmental Sciences department at the University of Vigo. The students'…

To build knowledge, separate yet related learning episodes can be integrated with one another and then used to derive new knowledge. Separate episodes are often experienced through different formats, such as text passages and graphic representations. Accordingly, in the present research, we tested integration of learning episodes provided through…

Over the past two decades, chemistry education researchers shifted their focus toward what skills might be required in the twenty-first century chemical industry and to question whether the learning that occurs in traditional undergraduate teaching labs is sufficient for preparing the future workforce. For example, learning from failure and…

The purpose of this qualitative research project is to determine the type of labor secondary school writing center directors experience and the relationships between those types of labor. While there is research being conducted on labor, especially emotional labor in connection to self-care, in post-secondary writing centers, more research is…

The Faculty-in-Residence (FIR) initiative bridges resources of a regional university, its College of Education, and a K-8 partnership school in ways that enhance children's learning and well-being. A core commitment undergirding the FIR role is the recognition that blurred boundaries, collaborative relationships, and the reimagination of how…

Although metal spatulas are damaged through everyday use and become discolored and corroded by chemical exposure, plastic drinking straws are inexpensive, sterile, and disposable, reducing the risk of cross-contamination during laboratory procedures. Drinking straws are also useful because they come in a variety of sizes; narrow sample containers…

Spirulina is a blue-green alga (cyanobacteria) with high nutritive value. This work provides an innovative and original approach to the consideration of a bioorganic chemistry practice, using Spirulina for the separation of phytochemicals with nutraceutical characteristics via thin-layer chromatography (TLC) plates. The aim is to bring together…

In the United States with the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS)'s emphasis on learning science while doing science, laboratory activities in the secondary school chemistry continues to be an important component of a strong curriculum. Laboratory equipment and consumable materials create a unique expense which chemistry teachers and schools…

It was planned to introduce online pre-laboratory session activities to a first-year undergraduate physics laboratory course to encourage a minimum level of student preparation for experiments outside the laboratory environment. A group of 16 and 17 year old laboratory work-experience students were tasked to define and design a pre-laboratory…

As a fundamental strategy for all science curriculum, inquiry is of prime importance. In order to facilitate inquiry during science education in middle school, 5E learning model was applied in this study. Following 5E learning model during a lesson, students can engage in a topic after being served to mitigate cognitive disequilibrium or familiar…

Understanding how scientific conclusions are drawn from data is central to learning about the nature of science. Many students struggle with aspects of reasoning from data, including identifying relationships among variables, interpreting graphs, coordinating theory and evidence, and not allowing personal beliefs to outweigh the data when forming…

Identification and quantification of an unknown illicit drug (cocaine) from both simulated drug paraphernalia and simulated urine can be achieved via direct analysis in real time (DART) triple quadrupole linear ion trap (QTRAP) mass spectrometry (MS). We describe a novel, hands-on laboratory activity which utilizes the recent DART technology…

Some misconceptions about physics are hard to change. For example, students continue to believe that heavier objects fall faster than light ones, even after a year of physics instruction. Physics misconceptions are persistent. Light objects do fall more slowly if their size-to-weight ratio is sufficient for drag to be appreciable. Motion through a…

Food spoilage has an enormous economic impact, and microbial food spoilage plays a significant role in food waste and loss; subsequently, an equally significant portion of undergraduate food microbiology instruction should be dedicated to spoilage microbiology. Here, we describe a set of undergraduate microbiology laboratory exercises that focus…

A laboratory project for the upper-division physical chemistry laboratory is described, and it combines IR and Raman spectroscopies with Gaussian electronic structure calculations to determine the structure of the oxalate anion in solid alkali oxalates and in aqueous solution. The oxalate anion has two limiting structures whose vibrational spectra…