This paper provides seven topics on sodium hydrogen carbonate (NaHCO[subscript 3]) and its ions for readers looking for familiar material phenomena to strengthen students' understanding of the chemical concepts of thermodynamics. The first concept is the ideal gas law, followed by the van't Hoff equation, Gibbs energy, pH change, chemical…

Introductory chemistry textbooks often present valence bond (VB) theory as useful, but incorrect and inferior to molecular orbital (MO) theory, citing the electronic structure of O[subscript 2] and electron delocalization as evidence. Even texts that initially present the two theories on equal footing use language that biases students toward the…

Colorful transitions of various acid-base indicators have been used to illustrate the concept of chemical equilibria, especially in spectrophotometric determination of the equilibrium constants or pKa values. To accommodate an online laboratory environment necessitated by the COVID-19 pandemic, this work employs color analyses from digital images…

We report on a distance learning experimental project for chemistry-major students on the synthesis of ethyl dodecanoate (C[subscript 11]CO[subscript 2]Et), a model for biodiesel, considering green chemistry principles. Thus, we employed a "recyclable acid catalyst" (an ionic liquid) and used chemometrics and microwave heating (MW) to…

At a key moment when education systems are moving towards the development of 21st-century skills at school, we propose to develop them with a series of enquiry activities connected to the real world on the subject of Chemistry in Compulsory Secondary Education. The four selected topics have practical aspects, as they are related to industrial…

This paper aims to explore (1) students' chemistry self-efficacy beliefs and metacognitive skills during problem solving in chemistry, (2) a potential significant difference of chemistry self-efficacy beliefs and levels of metacognitive skills in accordance with subject fields and, (3) the level of chemistry self-efficacy beliefs as a predictor of…

Radiochemistry faces a well-documented training and recruitment crisis. Older radiochemists are retiring, and fewer young people are studying radiochemistry. In turn, this is leading to a shortage in newly qualified radiochemists, as well as a loss of historical knowledge (as know-how is often not passed-on). Here, we analyzed the relevance of the…

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is the tool of choice for organic chemists to determine the molecular structure of organic molecules and, as a result, is a fundamental topic in the organic chemistry curriculum. A novel laboratory module has been developed to expand the scope of NMR spectroscopy beyond structure validation at the…

My dissertation research has been a quest to understand how to improve metacognition development in undergraduate chemistry education. The first step I took in this investigation was to speak with those with the largest influence on an undergraduate chemistry student's education: the instructors. I interviewed seventeen postsecondary chemistry…

Marine communities are experiencing rapid environmental changes including warming temperatures and ocean acidification (OA). For organisms within these communities, responses to ocean change are shaped by population- and community-level interactions which may modify their responses. This dissertation integrates experimental, field, and modeling…

We present a modernization of the undergraduate physical chemistry laboratory experiment for determining the speed of sound in various gases from resonant frequencies in a spherical resonator. The resonator (schematic IR = 7.5 cm) is constructed by 3D printing with eco-friendly poly(lactic acid), a commercially viable alternative to traditional…

The knowledge of the mechanical properties of polymers and other materials is essential for several tasks in the field of materials science, like component design and material development. The tensile test is one method of determining many of the material's most defining mechanical characteristics. However, the teaching of laboratory experiments…

This study measures the effect of productive failure instruction in a digital inquiry environment on developing deep understanding and achievement of organic chemistry among Saudi Arabian secondary school students. The study adopted the experimental design of control and experimental groups with pre- and post-measurements. The sample comprised 66…

The American Chemical Society holds supporting diverse student populations engaging in chemistry as a core value. We analyzed chemical concept inventory scores from 4,612 students across 12 institutions to determine what inequities in content knowledge existed before and after introductory college chemistry courses. We interpreted our findings…

What and how instructors assess understandably impacts student learning and performance in undergraduate science courses. However, there is limited research on the ways in which assessment practices might be altered to combat inequitable outcomes in these settings. Here we characterize the nature of assessment questions in one second-semester…