An experiment using cooperative learning in a introductory pharmacy course in medicinal chemistry revealed general acceptance of the cooperative learning approach by students, and some perceived advantages for both students and teachers. Although quantitative evidence supporting superiority of the cooperative learning approach was not found,…

Argues that visual images can act as conceptual pegs for concepts or complicated procedures and help students perform better in the cognitive, affective, and manipulative domains of the laboratory. Conclusion was based on a study of chemistry laboratory students (N=83). (DDR)

Describes attempts to adapt collaborative-learning techniques and a problem-solving approach to large introductory organic chemistry course sections at the University of Alberta. (WRM)

Five years ago when the author worked during the summer at the chemical company W.R. Grace, he, along with his colleague Walt Dutton, developed a plan to make science relevant for his students. Their plan consisted of developing a partnership between W.R. Grace and the high school where he teaches chemistry and biology. In this article, the author…

The method for extracting and separating hydrophobic photosynthetic pigments proposed by Katayama "et al." ("Japanese Journal of Phycology," 42, 71-77, 1994) has been improved to introduce it to student laboratories at the senior high school level. Silica gel powder was used for removing water from fresh materials prior to…

The purposes of this study are: to apply the ARCS model in designing an acid and bases unit, and to assess a single class of 11th graders for motivation and achievement outcomes before and after ARCS instruction. Four essential strategies for designing motivation instruction in the ARCS model were: Attention, Relevance, Confidence, and…

This paper discusses the potential of applying computer-animated instruction (CAnI) as an effective conceptual change strategy in teaching electrochemistry in comparison to conventional lecture-based instruction (CLI). The core assumption in this study is that conceptual change in learners is an active, constructive process that is enhanced by the…

This paper focuses on the "match" between Botswana secondary school students' Piagetian status and the cognitive demands of chemistry education. The chemistry syllabus studied by the most talented students engaged in the pure sciences at the senior secondary level is cognitively well within the reach of most. However, a serious mismatch…

A distance education system may be viewed in terms of intrapersonal and interpersonal instructional dialogues that mediate the learning and instructional resources that enable such dialogues. Instructional resources include self-instruction texts, tutorial sessions, instructor availability, Web sites, and more. This study investigated the kinds of…

Nine 12th grade students, attending the science section of the upper secondary school in Cyprus, were individually interviewed about their understanding of the changes associated with the process of oxidation/combustion. Each student was instructed to firstly predict what would happen when heating a piece of copper wire or a piece of magnesium…

This experiment was designed to help students improve the critical thinking skills that are required to analyze and discuss the results of an organic chemistry experiment in an effective manner. The initial objective indicated in the prelab handout for this puzzle experiment was the synthesis of methyl 4-bromobenzoate using the Fischer…

In contrast to most other thermodynamic data, entropy values are not given in relation to a certain--more or less arbitrarily defined--zero level. They are listed in standard thermodynamic tables as absolute values of specific substances. Therefore these values describe a physical property of the listed substances. One of the main tasks of…

The main distinction between the overlapping fields of molecular biophysics and biochemistry resides in their different approaches to the same problems. Molecular biophysics makes more use of physical techniques and focuses on quantitative data. This difference encounters two difficult pedagogical challenges when teaching molecular biophysics to…

We present an automated system that allows students to replay both audio and video from a large nonmajors' organic chemistry class as streaming RealMedia. Once established, this system requires no technical intervention and is virtually transparent to the instructor. This gives students access to online class review at any time. Assessment has…

This paper investigated the change of the Junior Secondary School Chemistry Curriculum (JSSCC) in the P. R. China over the period from 1978 to 2001. Document analysis was employed as the research method and data were collected from various versions of teaching syllabi, textbooks, and teachers' reference books published during this period. The…