In undergraduate chemistry curricula that include computational modeling, students may gain first-hand experience in both introductory and advanced applications of this technique. However, although students can be exposed to the predictive power of computational work, its capabilities are often limited to determining the intrinsic properties of…

All students deserve access to effective, equitable physics education. Postsecondary faculty have been shown to be unprepared to support students with disabilities in their classes, and popular, research-based introductory physics curricula do not adequately plan for variations in learners' needs, abilities, and interests. It is urgent to address…

This research draws on Legitimation Code Theory (LCT) to understand the epistemic dimension of the higher education classroom discourse of a professor who is well evaluated by his students. In expository science classroom discourse, concepts are loaded with different meanings, a process that is called "condensation of meanings" in LCT,…

Students often struggle to make interdisciplinary connections and cite a lack of opportunity to make such connections. To address this issue, we are developing activities aligned with the framework of three-dimensional learning that provide students with opportunities to make connections between chemistry concepts and biological phenomena. Here,…

In this paper, the main purpose is to describe the development and use of three flowcharts for identifying types of isomers and naming coordination compounds. The first flowchart is designed to help students identify the type of isomers between the two coordination compounds. The second one is is designed to identify the type of stereoisomerism.…

This paper deals with the advantages and disadvantages to both the faculty member and to the students of using the answer-until-correct multiple-choice test format for a class specifically designed for non-STEM majors, who need a breath of knowledge science course. Comments from students are given about why they prefer answer-until-correct…

High-performance liquid chromatography is one of the primary techniques covered in the undergraduate analytical chemistry curriculum. This technology report describes the use of a portable capillary-scale instrument that can provide similar performance to a benchtop instrument but generates less solvent waste and enables operation in nonlaboratory…

In answer to calls for research about professional change, this study addressed the question: What is involved in college science faculty readiness for change in instructional practice? The setting was a professional development experience in oceanography/marine science and paleoclimatology among 32 faculty from 2- and 4-year colleges. Ten of the…

Oxygen reduction reaction (ORR),as a multielectron electrode reaction, is an important electrochemical reaction in the field of electrochemical energy storage systems. Herein, a new advanced electrochemical laboratory experiment is designed for undergraduates to master the preparation of oxygen reduction catalytic electrode. Students can use…

Techniques and instrumentation that involve fluorescence are used in many careers related to biology and biochemistry. However, due to the expense of instrumentation, the theory and practice of fluorescence spectroscopy is commonly concentrated in instrumental analysis in most curricula, a class rarely required for biology and biochemistry majors.…

This study uses social network analysis and the classroom observation protocol for undergraduate STEM (COPUS) to characterize six research-based introductory physics curricula. Peer Instruction, Modeling Instruction, ISLE, SCALE-UP, Context-Rich Problems, and Tutorials in Introductory Physics were investigated. Students in each curriculum were…

Undergraduate organic chemistry students, as they study conformational analysis and stereochemistry, frequently have trouble manipulating three-dimensional structures on a two-dimensional page or screen. The inability to accurately convert three-dimensional bond-line representations into Fischer projections is one example of this. While some…

This study explores the importance of general chemistry as a prerequisite for organic chemistry lecture courses. The students taking organic chemistry were categorized into three groups: (1) those who had finished the prerequisite before starting organic chemistry, (2) those who had not finished the prerequisite before starting organic chemistry,…

This paper presents strength and thermal studies, as well as an analysis of the design material for the development of a nanosatellite model. By using the SolidWorks software environment, an effective solid-state finite-element model of a nanosatellite are developed, on the basis of which the stress-strain state of the nanosatellite is analyzed,…

Chemistry students often struggle in organic chemistry courses. In fact, these courses are viewed by some as "weed-out" classes. There are many fundamental concepts covered in general chemistry that contribute to students' ability to succeed in organic chemistry. One of those fundamental topics, and the focus of this study, is the topic…