This study adopts a robust systematic literature review (SLR) to investigate the use of mobile devices to support learning (mobile learning) in university science education. It analyses 24 high quality studies over the past decade to generate insights into contemporary mobile learning developments in relation to settings, applications and…

Analogies are used to make abstract topics meaningful and more easily comprehensible to learners. Incorporating simple analogies into STEM classrooms is a fairly common practice, but the analogies are typically generated and explained by the instructor for the learners. We hypothesize that challenging learners to create complex, extended analogies…

In response to the problem of rapid increases in higher education offering more programs in a hybrid format after COVID-19, educators questioned the best way to make these changes in delivery in such fields as health sciences and specifically with students in an associate degree program of science radiologic science. To achieve an answer, this…

Grades matter to students, and grading methods have documented impacts on student outcomes. While many strategies exist to study variance and reliability in research settings, unique challenges exist when it comes to applying these techniques in practical settings of post-secondary coursework. In our course setting, teaching assistants (TA's)…

To guide students to make reasonable decisions in the face of adversity and pressure, a new general course named 'Introduction of Life Education' was established. The course was organized based on the knowledge of biological science, with the integration of social scientific issues on life health, food safety, environmental protection and…

Previous work has identified that recognition from others is an important predictor of students' participation, persistence, and career intentions in physics. However, research has also found a gender bias in peer recognition in which student nominations of strong peers in their physics course disproportionately favor men over women. In this…

A key part of the practice of chemistry is the analysis of chemical composition, including through gravimetric analysis and spectrophotometry. However, the complexity of doing multiple calculations to obtain analytical evidence, such as that required to determine an empirical formula, presents a challenge if such analytical methods are to be…

'A lack of prior knowledge in the other discipline' is often given by geoscience instructors to explain why students struggle to apply knowledge from other disciplines to the Earth. We examine this assumption by considering the disciplinary crossing of buoyancy (physics) to isostasy (geoscience). We investigate the teachers' perspective through…

The global Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and associated restrictions on indoor gatherings posed considerable challenges to the delivery of courses that traditionally have relied on hands-on learning in their laboratory components. Here, our experiences converting a senior instrumental analysis course to remote online learning in the…

Recently, there have been calls to integrate systems thinking approaches into chemistry education in order to strengthen students' conceptual understanding, build their problem-solving capabilities, and prepare them to make informed, ethical decisions about globally relevant issues, such as sustainability. Unfortunately, implementation of systems…

Protein PEGylation refers to the covalent binding of polyethylene glycol (PEG) moieties to a protein and has been increasingly applied, mainly in the biopharmaceutical industry. This technique may increase bioavailability and stability by decreasing immunogenicity and proteolytic attack. Given the industrial interest and the relevance of this…

A new method to determine a ternary phase diagram of benzene-acetic acid-water system is provided to upper-division undergraduate students. The partially miscible liquid phase region can be accurately constructed using isothermal titration microcalorimetry (ITC). Compared with the traditional visual method, ITC can provide precise data and more…

We share a flipped class approach to university calculus-based general physics that shows increased learning and high student satisfaction compared to traditional lecture classes.

Easy and visually appealing demonstrations are precious tools for introducing students to the study of enzymes. However, they most often involve purified enzymes and dedicated techniques. Here, we propose a set of demonstrations, which require only fresh horseradish root and consumer chemicals, to help support biochemistry and enzymology courses…

A laboratory class was developed and evaluated to illustrate the synthesis of metal nanoclusters (NCs) and to explain their photoluminescence properties for the case of silver. The described experiment employs a synthetic protocol that consists of two sequential phases in a single reaction pot: the reduction of silver ions into plasmonic silver…