Using everyday life examples is proven didactically useful for teaching physics, as it presents effective applications of physical laws. Cooking and food, in particular, serve two useful purposes: on one side, they are able to engage students in the study of physics with familiar examples; on the other side, thanks to the wide range of physical…

A semester-long research project for second-semester organic chemistry lab sections was developed. Student projects were based on preliminary data from faculty research that suggested the natural product neurolenin B to be a treatment for lymphatic filariasis. Students isolated neurolenins from the Central American plant "Neurolaena…

Previous work at Monash University has shown that students recognise that inquiry-, problem-, context- and industry-based experiments were better contextualised, more open to decision making and aided in the development of scientific and transferable skills. This study investigated whether these gains persisted over a longer time scale, rather…

Acharge pickup detector was developed at the University of Colorado for use in classroom demonstrations and in the dust accelerator at the Institute for Modeling Plasma, Atmospheres and Cosmic Dust (IMPACT). The detector can be used in a physics classroom to help high school and introductory-level physics students connect electromagnetic phenomena…

This paper proposes an experiment in which students build microdevices for conveniently electrolyzing water and use image recognition and processing technology to measure the volume of gas generated during the reaction in a noncontact way. Taking advantage of three ratio relationships between (i) gas volume and the area of bubbles, (ii) the…

This is the story of how an enterprising high school student came to my lab one afternoon, asking if there were any way that he could gain "hands-on" lab experience by working with me. While I had some doubts about allowing him to work in an area with an expensive 150-mW focused laser beam, I eventually said yes. I was well aware that a…

A laboratory experiment often performed in an introductory electricity and magnetism course involves the mapping of equipotential lines on a conductive sheet between two objects at different potentials. In this article, we describe how we have expanded this experiment so that it can be used to illustrate the electrostatic properties of conductors.…

In this study we constructed a special three-in-one resonance tube for a harmonic series sound waves experiment. It is designed for three different experiments: both-open-end, one-closed-end and both-closed-end tubes. The resonance tube consists of a PVC conduit with a rectangular hole, rubber tube, plastic stopper with an embedded microphone and…

Although the advent and popularization of the "flipped classroom" tends to center around at-home video lectures, teachers are increasingly turning to at-home labs for enhanced student engagement. This paper describes two simple at-home experiments that can be accomplished in the kitchen. The first experiment analyzes the density of four…

Multidisciplinary lab experiments combining microfluidics, nanoparticle synthesis, and characterization are presented. These experiments rely on the implementation of affordable yet efficient microfluidic setups based on perfluoroalkoxyalkane (PFA) capillary coils and standard HPLC connectors in upper undergraduate chemistry laboratories.…

Originally an empirical law, nowadays Malus' law is seen as a key experiment to demonstrate the transverse nature of electromagnetic waves, as well as the intrinsic connection between optics and electromagnetism. In this work, a simple and inexpensive setup is proposed to quantitatively verify the nature of polarized light. A flat computer screen…

The purpose of this paper is to demonstrate how the Doppler effect can be analysed to deduce information about a moving source of sound waves. Specifically, we find the speed of a car and the distance of its closest approach to an observer using sound recordings from smartphones. A key focus of this paper is how this can be achieved in a…

Ubiquitin is essential for eukaryotic life and varies in only 3 amino acid positions between yeast and humans. However, recent deep sequencing studies indicate that ubiquitin is highly tolerant to single mutations. We hypothesized that this tolerance would be reduced by chemically induced physiologic perturbations. To test this hypothesis, a class…

Active learning activities offer opportunities for medical students to facilitate the retention of knowledge and develop soft skills. We aimed to create a guide for an interdisciplinary mock trial learning activity within the medical curriculum of the College of Medicine, Anhembi Morumbi University--Laureate International Universities, Sao Paulo,…

Science competencies acquired at early years are basic and influence on children's later development. Gender differences in these early science competencies may explain the often-reported gender differences in later science abilities. Research in this field was not usually focused on pre-schoolers. In this study, we focus on the interaction…