Well-designed laboratories can help students master content and science practices by successfully completing the laboratory experiments. Upper-division chemistry laboratory courses often present special challenges for instruction due to the instrument intensive nature of the experiments. To address these challenges, particularly those associated…

A laboratory experiment was developed to enable students to investigate the use of smart hydrogels for potential application in targeted drug delivery. This is challenging for students to explore practically because of the extremely high risks of handling cross-linking agents such as glutaraldehyde. Genipin is a safe and green alternative that has…

When new concepts, models, or theories are introduced in a course, their presentation should be accurate, even if depth is not the goal. In a recent publication in this Journal, the Woodward-Hoffmann rules were invoked in the context of a new laboratory experiment, but the associated description was inaccurate. Here we aim to clarify the…

This technology report outlines a robust and easy to assemble magnetic stirrer that is programmable. All of the parts are recycled from obsolete computer hardware except the Arduino microcontroller and motor driver, at a total cost of around $40. This multidisciplinary approach introduces microcontrollers to students and grants the opportunity to…

This article describes the implementation and application of a metal deposition and surface diffusion Monte Carlo simulation in a physical chemistry lab course. Here the self-diffusion of Ag atoms on a Ag(111) surface is modeled and compared to published experimental results. Both the thin-film homoepitaxial growth during adatom deposition onto a…

We demonstrate how students' use of modeling can be examined and assessed using student notebooks collected from an upper-division electronics lab course. The use of models is a ubiquitous practice in undergraduate physics education, but the process of constructing, testing, and refining these models is much less common. We focus our attention on…

Different tools have been used to facilitate the teaching and learning process in different areas of knowledge. Practical activities represent a form of teaching in which students not only listen to theoretical concepts but are also able to link theory and practice, and their importance in the biological sciences is notable. Sometimes, however,…

We are hereby presenting a didactic concept for an advanced lab course that focuses on the design of donor materials for organic solar cells. Its research-related and competence-based approach qualifies the students to independently and creatively apply computational methods and to profoundly and critically discuss the results obtained. The high…

We explored the social shaping of science at the micro-level reality of face-to-face interaction in one of the traditional places for scientific activities--the scientific lab. We specifically examined how doctoral students' perception of their: (i) interaction with doctoral mentors (MMI) and (ii) lab social environment (LSE) influenced…

Although literature posits the invaluable role of educators as both teachers and leaders in cultivating meaningful student learning experiences, many educators do not identify themselves as leaders (Barth, 2001). This paper explores leadership strategies for cultivating teacher-leader identity in Anatomy and Physiology educators. Due to large…

This dissertation utilizes autoethnography to explore myriad cultural and institutional changes that impacted the author's work as a writing tutor at a Midwestern university over the span of a decade. Utilizing both writing center theories and composition theories, data in this text--presented in the form of narrative nonfiction--chronicles…

An inversion polymorphism of the filamin and emerin genes at the tip of the long arm of the human X-chromosome serves as the basis of an investigative laboratory in which students learn something new about their own genomes. Long, nearly identical inverted repeats flanking the filamin and emerin genes illustrate how repetitive elements can lead to…

In order to increase students' awareness for and comfort with mathematical modeling of biological processes, and increase their understanding of diffusion, the following lab was developed for use in 100-level, majors/non-majors biology and neuroscience courses. The activity begins with generation of a data set that uses coin-flips to replicate…

CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing technology is used in the manipulation of genome sequences and gene expression. Because of the ease and rapidity with which genes can be mutated using CRISPR/Cas9, we sought to determine if a single-semester undergraduate class could be successfully taught, wherein students isolate mutants for specific genes using…

The aim of this paper is to describe the design of chemical engineering laboratory sessions in order to focus them on the learning company approach. This is an activity carried out in the classroom similar to the activities that exist in real companies. This could lead classroom practice to a more cooperative learning and a different style of…