Microscopy is not specifically mentioned in the Next Generation Science Standards (NGSS), and consequently secondary education limits its use to learning parts, procedures, and observing fixed specimen slides. However, when alternative approaches (See Section IV in this paper) are encouraged, microscopy provides opportunities for hands-on…

The real time PCR (qPCR) method provides a powerful method to assess levels of particular species of DNA. When combined with reverse transcription (RT-qPCR) it is the predominate technique to measure expression of gene transcripts. While this approach is very powerful, particular care must be taken in the design of the primers to facilitate…

A laboratory exercise was developed for the study of the effect of three cations (Al, Ca, and Na) on the flocculation and dispersion of soil particles. The exercise was designed for Soil Science undergraduate students in the second-course in the Agricultural Engineering and Environmental Sciences department at the University of Vigo. The students'…

To build knowledge, separate yet related learning episodes can be integrated with one another and then used to derive new knowledge. Separate episodes are often experienced through different formats, such as text passages and graphic representations. Accordingly, in the present research, we tested integration of learning episodes provided through…

Over the past two decades, chemistry education researchers shifted their focus toward what skills might be required in the twenty-first century chemical industry and to question whether the learning that occurs in traditional undergraduate teaching labs is sufficient for preparing the future workforce. For example, learning from failure and…

The purpose of this qualitative research project is to determine the type of labor secondary school writing center directors experience and the relationships between those types of labor. While there is research being conducted on labor, especially emotional labor in connection to self-care, in post-secondary writing centers, more research is…

The Faculty-in-Residence (FIR) initiative bridges resources of a regional university, its College of Education, and a K-8 partnership school in ways that enhance children's learning and well-being. A core commitment undergirding the FIR role is the recognition that blurred boundaries, collaborative relationships, and the reimagination of how…

Some misconceptions about physics are hard to change. For example, students continue to believe that heavier objects fall faster than light ones, even after a year of physics instruction. Physics misconceptions are persistent. Light objects do fall more slowly if their size-to-weight ratio is sufficient for drag to be appreciable. Motion through a…

Food spoilage has an enormous economic impact, and microbial food spoilage plays a significant role in food waste and loss; subsequently, an equally significant portion of undergraduate food microbiology instruction should be dedicated to spoilage microbiology. Here, we describe a set of undergraduate microbiology laboratory exercises that focus…

A laboratory project for the upper-division physical chemistry laboratory is described, and it combines IR and Raman spectroscopies with Gaussian electronic structure calculations to determine the structure of the oxalate anion in solid alkali oxalates and in aqueous solution. The oxalate anion has two limiting structures whose vibrational spectra…

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and GC-tandem MS (GC-MS/MS) are useful in many separation and characterization procedures. GC-MS is now a common tool in industry and research, and increasingly, GC-MS/MS is applied to the measurement of trace components in complex mixtures. This report describes an upper-level undergraduate experiment…

A laboratory experiment visually exploring two opposite basic principles of fluorescence of aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) and aggregation-induced emission (AIE) is demonstrated. The students would prepared two salicylaldehyde-based Schiff bases through a simple one-pot condensation reaction of one equiv of 1,2-diamine with 2 equiv of…

Electrically conducting polymers are one of the promising alternative materials for technological applications in many interdisciplinary areas, including chemistry, material sciences, and engineering. This experiment was designed for providing undergraduate students with a quick and practical approach for preparation of a polyaniline-conducting…

As nonrenewable resources deplete and educators seek relevant interdisciplinary content for organic chemistry instruction, biobased laboratory experiments present themselves as potential alternatives to petroleum-based transformations, which offer themselves as sustainable variations on important themes. Following the principles of green chemistry…

In this work, a laboratory experiment to introduce graduate students to nanotechnology is described. Students prepared poly(lactic-"co"-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanoparticles using two different synthesis procedures, a single and a double emulsion-solvent evaporation method. The students also performed a physicochemical characterization of…