Promoting students' attitudes, a part of affective domains is a major goal in higher education. Unfortunately, only a few studies were available related to the improvement of pre-service chemistry teachers' attitudes as this domain was rarely explored using a mixed teaching approach. In this quasi-experimental research, we investigated the effect…

The aim of this study is to better understand how teachers use various embodied semiotic modes -- speech, gestures, gaze, and proxemics -- when they present scientific content to the entire class. To analyse the multimodal practices of these teachers, we integrated the social semiotic theory of multimodality and the joint action theory in…

The "Next Generation Science Standards" and other educational reforms support the formation of deep connections across the STEM disciplines. Integrated STEM is considered as a best practice by the educational communities of the disparate disciplines. However, the integration of non-STEM disciplines is understudied and generally limited…

Teaching practical chemistry skills remotely is not a task that would have been high on the agenda only a few months ago. However, in light of the COVID-19 pandemic, students around the world are having to work from home, and the chemistry education community has been forced to adapt to the new circumstances. In response, we discuss the use of…

A flipped chemistry class for middle school education majors was "unflipped" during the conversion from in-person to online-only instruction during the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic. The process balanced the best practices of online education with practicality due to the short time frame. Successes and failures in the conversion…

Social distancing during the COVID-19 pandemic presents mental health and academic obstacles for students. As mental health can strongly influence academic performance, addressing the loss of community by transitioning to distance education, midsemester, is imperative. This work draws upon the community and wellness benefits associated with online…

Thirty-six days after the beginning of the 2020 school year in Brazil, the Rio de Janeiro state education system began an unprecedented disruptive period due to the COVID-19 crisis, which abruptly affected general educational activities, particularly chemistry teaching. An adaptation to a new paradigm of remote teaching and massive use of online…

We evaluate the effectiveness of companion classes designed to support at-risk first-year students in introductory biology and chemistry within the University of California system. Companion classes (co-classes) are optional classes associated with large, gateway biology and chemistry courses (parent classes) and provide three hours of instruction…

From 2012-2015, Advanced Placement (AP) science courses underwent a large-scale curricular reform to include more scientific inquiry and reasoning, reduce emphasis on broad content coverage, and focus on depth of understanding, with corresponding changes in high-stakes AP examinations. In this study, we explored how teachers prepared for and…

Students undertaking courses in the field of chemistry need to integrate their spatial skills and conceptual knowledge. However, model perception along with the understanding of spatial processes and spatial structures of molecules has been a cause of difficulty for students as conventional teaching methods cannot fully aid student comprehension.…

The determination of kinetic data is central to reaction mechanism; science courses usually include experiments on chemical kinetics. Thanks to PC-controlled data acquisition and availability of software, the students calculate rate constants, whether the experiment has been done properly or not. This contrasts with their experience in, e.g.,…

This advanced undergraduate chemistry laboratory exercise takes advantage of the unique spectroscopic properties of the free radical chlorine dioxide to allow for a direct comparison of its symmetric stretch in both the ground and excited states. It incorporates several subject areas covered in an undergraduate chemistry degree (synthesis,…

An effective way of teaching undergraduates a full complement of research skills is through a multiweek advanced laboratory experiment. Here we outline a comprehensive set of experiments adapted from current primary literature focusing on organic and inorganic synthesis, catalysis, reactivity, and reaction kinetics. The catalyst,…

An experimental protocol that provides an excellent way to discuss concepts at the crossroads of organic chemistry and biochemistry employing biocatalysis is presented. By evaluating several reaction parameters (enzyme source, organic solvent, and acyl donor), it was possible to conduct an enzymatic kinetic resolution experiment using…

In this experiment, students perform an air-free synthesis of three dichlorophosphinenickel(II) compounds, NiCl[subscript 2](PPh[subscript 3])[subscript 2], NiCl[subscript 2](PCy[subscript 3])[subscript 2], and NiCl[subscript 2](DPPE), using NiCl[subscript 2]·6H[subscript 2]O and the appropriate phosphine as the precursors. These colorful nickel…