Case studies and current literature are combined with spectroscopic analysis to provide a unique chemistry experience for art history students and to provide a unique inquiry-based laboratory experiment for analytical chemistry students. The XRF analysis method was used to demonstrate to nonscience majors (art history students) a powerful…

Understanding the normal mode vibrations of a molecule is important in the analysis of vibrational spectra. However, the complicated 3D motion of large molecules can be difficult to interpret. We show how images of normal modes of the fullerene molecule C[subscript 60] can be made easier to understand by superimposing them on images of the normal…

The concept of funds of knowledge, as applied to an ethnically popular fruit, is the focus of this module. Teachers can use this concept to create contextually meaningful experiments that can contribute to a culturally relevant and more fully developed educational unit focusing on the science of nutrition and reflecting content Standards A and C.…

The purpose of this study was to investigate whether conceptual change texts and laboratory experiments are effective in overcoming misconceptions and whether the concepts were acquired permanently when these methods were utilized. In this study, we addressed some topics from the "Matter and Change" unit in science and technology class of…

A successful laboratory experience provides the foundation for student success, creating active participation in the learning process. Here, we describe a new approach that emphasizes research, inquiry and problem solving in a year-long biochemistry experience. The first semester centers on the purification, characterization, and analysis of a…

Off-road motorcycle racing and ATV riding. Gardening and fishing. What do these high-adrenaline and slower-paced pastimes have in common? Each requires soil, and the texture of that soil has an effect on all of them. In the inquiry-based lessons described here, students work both in the field or laboratory and in the classroom to collect soil…

The continued downward spiral of enrollment in physical sciences in the USA and Europe has science educators concerned on both sides of the Atlantic. Physics has been particularly hard-hit, with the percentage of students choosing to major in the subject at the lowest level in decades. University physics has a reputation as a difficult, abstract…

This article discusses how real research on Down syndrome, being done in a lab at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), was incorporated into a laboratory activity for middle school students. The activity asked students to evaluate real evidence from the research laboratory of a GK-12 fellow (a graduate student funded by the…

Anatomy has historically been a cornerstone in medical education regardless of nation or specialty. Until recently, dissection and didactic lectures were its sole pedagogy. Teaching methodology has been revolutionized with more reliance on models, imaging, simulation, and the Internet to further consolidate and enhance the learning experience.…

Lab notebooks provide students with authentic science experiences as they become active, practicing scientists. Teachers gain insight into students' understanding of science content and processes, while students create a lasting personal resource. This article provides high school science teachers with guidelines for implementing lab notebooks in…

This study examines the process by which a teacher may be able to answer a question asked in the classroom by using a scientific approach and a simple activity. This article examines a discussion of the question "Is space light or dark?" Priority in the discussion has been given to determining students' preconceptions about the interaction of…

Forty-eight new secondary science teachers participated in a study that required a listing, discussion, and application of criteria to rank three chemistry laboratory procedures. The three similar lab procedures involved synthesis of a compound from its elements. The top criteria noted by teachers focused on procedural issues (i.e., timeliness,…

Kinetics constitutes a core topic in both the lecture and laboratory components of lower- level chemistry courses. While textbook examples can ignore issues of time, temperature and safety, the laboratory can not. Reactions must occur slowly enough to be detected by students, occur rapidly enough for data collection in the few hours assigned to a…

This article presents the development of a carbon dioxide fountain. The advantages of the carbon dioxide fountain are that it is odorless and uses consumer chemicals. This experiment also is a nice visual experiment that allows students to see evidence of a gaseous reagent being consumed when a pressure sensor is available. (Contains 3 figures.)…

Gerald Rutherford (1964), one of the original authors of the Harvard Project Physics course which emphasized the history of science, expressed a view of inquiry which advocated the historical re-constructions of significant experiments. To implement this view we examine two modes of historical re-constructions; Heering's ("Paper…