The aim of this research was to find out the assessment literacy level of chemistry teachers in Turkey. For the purpose of the research, different types of formative assessment techniques were included in the research. This research was conducted as a case study, which is a kind of qualitative research design. The participants in the research were…

Instructive, inexpensive, and environmentally friendly laboratory syntheses of two highly luminescent copper(I) complexes CuI(PPh[subcript 3])[subscript 2](py[superscript R]) (py[superscript R] = pyridine, 4-cyanopyridine) are described for second-year/upper-division undergraduate inorganic chemistry students. Both complexes exhibit bright…

For the past century, humans have been increasingly dependent on plastics, but have not developed adequate disposal practices. In this lab, students are asked whether burning plastic for energy seems like a reasonable disposal technique. To answer the chemical aspects of this question, students use bomb calorimetry to quantify the combustion…

The Chemistry Department at Sonoma State University teaches two upper division capstone laboratory courses as culminating experiences for our BS chemistry and biochemistry majors. The courses share complementary learning experiences and have student learning objectives (SLOs) of literature competency, experimental design, development of…

This communication contains the experience of two early-career organic professors at primarily undergraduate institutions during the rapid transition to an online learning environment during the COVID-19 pandemic. The techniques and methods for transitioning both the organic lecture and lab of two class sizes (~50 and ~10) are juxtaposed, and…

Biocompatible and biodegradable block copolymers composed of poly(ethylene glycol) (PEG) and aliphatic polyester are a class of promising biomaterials. Herein, a teaching experiment was designed to furnish undergraduates with a reliable method to synthesize an amphiphilic poly([epsilon]-caprolactone)-PEG-poly([epsilon]-caprolactone) (PCL-PEG-PCL)…

Nanoscale phenomena are under increasingly intense investigation both in academia and industry. The unique physical and chemical properties stemming from their high surface area and confined space lead to properties that are distinct from atomic and bulk materials. Students need experience in nanoscience to enter this growing field of nanoscience…

A low-cost multispectral imager was built using a multiwavelength LED PCB (light-emitting diode printed circuit board), 3D printed housing, and a monochrome camera, and it was controlled via National Instruments LabVIEW software coupled with some simple electronics. Multivariate data analysis was performed using freely available software packages.…

A series of hands-on experiments including the synthesis and application of flexible, conductive silver-nanopaste were designed to gain knowledge of conductive soft nanomaterial and the synthesis and the application of silver nanopaste (Ag nanopaste). The aim of this laboratory experiment is to provide undergraduate/graduate students an…

Organic chemistry is a required course sequence for many STEM students. However, research indicates that organic chemistry reaction mechanisms are especially challenging for students due to a mixture of underlying conceptual difficulties, the process-oriented thinking inherent to the discipline, and the representations commonly used to depict…

Polymer materials are indispensable in our daily lives. This makes polymer technology of critical importance in higher education. In particular, hands-on experiment-based practicals/laboratories with a focus on polymer science are of tremendous value in the undergraduate curriculum. Along these lines, hydrogels are highly cross-linked polymer…

Background: The extent to which students view their intelligence as improvable (i.e., their "mindset") influences students' thoughts, behaviors, and ultimately their academic success. Thus, understanding the development of students' mindsets is of great interest to education scholars working to understand and promote student success.…

"Complex systems" is a general-purpose reasoning scheme, used in a wide range of disciplines to make sense of systems with many similar entities. In this paper, we examine the generality of this approach in learning chemistry. Students' reasoning in chemistry in terms of emergent complex systems is explored for two curricula: a normative…

In this study, we investigated how students organized their knowledge about organic chemistry reactions in a transformed curriculum, including their choices, abilities, and changes over time. This transformed curriculum focuses on interpreting the underlying mechanistic patterns of chemical reactions and emphasizes the principles of reactivity in…

A laboratory experiment to study the effect of soil amendments in the bioremediation of polluted soils is described. Students extracted and measured 0.01 M CaCl[subscript 2]-soluble Cd, EDTA-soluble Cd, and DTPA-soluble Cd concentrations in contaminated soils, treated with a liming material (mussel shell), and/or with an organic amendment (pine…