This laboratory experiment was divided into four parts. In the first part, students evaluate previously published data and check their normality using histograms, Q-Q plots, the Shapiro-Wilk test, and boxplots. In the second part, two different groups were compared. First, data normality and homoskedasticity were checked by using the Shapiro-Wilk…

In spring 2020, the chemical education community faced an abrupt transition from in-person to online classes, which also necessitated online assessments. Building upon an existing three-semester study (F17, S19, and F19) using Rasch modeling and classical testing theory to improve in-person multiple choice exams, this study investigates the impact…

The essential component of expanding an undergraduate curriculum is the inclusion of lab experiments in nanoscience and nanomaterials, which significantly impact health and the environment through their use in food, cosmetics, agriculture, and medicine. We designed a laboratory experiment based on the atomic force microscopy (AFM) analysis of the…

The COVID-19 pandemic is also an infodemic, which has brought scientists closer to the popular media, highlighting the need for training in public communication of science and technology. A virtual magazine environment based on this scenario was simulated during a science communication course attended by first-year undergraduate chemistry…

In this action research study, I propose a guided inquiry alternative to the traditional physical chemistry laboratory module where the equilibrium constant of acetic acid is determined conductometrically. I complement the guided inquiry structure with a 360° feedback support framework for the preparation and assessment of a laboratory report. The…

In both general chemistry and analytical chemistry courses, students are introduced to the concept of predominant species in solution when discussing acid/base chemistry. Speciation diagrams are often used to illustrate the concept and predict the relative abundance of species in solution. Herein, we describe a laboratory experiment for an…

A Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) experiment appropriate for an upper-level undergraduate laboratory such as chemical instrumentation is described. Students collect FTIR spectra of four protio-solvents and their deuterated analogues. In addition to qualitatively observing C-H and O-H peaks shift to lower energy upon deuteration, students apply a…

In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the University of Leicester introduced a blended teaching model to continue delivery of their undergraduate Chemistry courses in 2020/21. The transition from in-person to blended provided a good opportunity to investigate student engagement in the blended environment, along with the attitudes of faculty…

Undergraduate chemistry laboratory instruction can be considered from many perspectives and addresses multiple educational aims. We critically assess an inventory of "Cognitive Tasks of Experimental Research" for its applicability to chemistry laboratory teaching, and then apply it to an integrated upper-level laboratory course as an…

The impact of an interactive in-class Valence-Shell Electron-Pair Repulsion (VSEPR) activity, designed and implemented by the author in her first-year undergraduate chemistry classes, was assessed through the statistical analysis of pre- and posttreatment quizzes on VSEPR theory and the analysis of questionnaires. The activity consisted of…

The pharmaceutical industry relies heavily on analytical techniques for identifying and characterizing drug compounds. In this experiment, undergraduate pharmacy students explored the applications of near-infrared spectroscopy for pharmaceutical analysis and its potential for identifying patterns and relationships among pharmaceutical samples. In…

This research is a large study over an extended period of time involving hundreds of general chemistry students and multiple instructors at the US Naval Academy. The purpose was to investigate whether a combination of clicker content and confidence questions would improve the performance and metacognition of students of different achievement…

Organic reaction trajectories show atomic motion and molecular reorganization of reactants during a single product-forming collision. iORA is a free (available from the Apple App Store), easy to use, highly interactive iPhone application that provides on-the-fly 3Drendering of organic reaction trajectories calculated with density functional theory…

Commonly used methods to simulate the oxidation-reduction (redox) titration curves include the three-step method and the rigorous method. The simple three-step method simulates the redox titration curve with the assumption that the reaction is complete, which is widely used in undergraduate quantitative analysis courses. For the rigorous…

We have developed a curriculum for the organic chemistry laboratory in which students draw on authentic usage of spectroscopy, spectrometry, and computational chemistry to explain chemical phenomena. This curriculum, which has been continuously refined over a decade, has been explored by many thousands of students and is scalable to small and…