A clear understanding of how "raw data" is defined, recorded, and retained in the laboratory record is essential to the chemist employed in the laboratory compliant with the Good Laboratory Practices regulations. This article is intended to provide an understanding by drawing upon examples taken from the modern pharmaceutical analysis…

When you dive underwater, you feel the pressure on your ears and, as you dive deeper, more pressure is felt. This article presents an activity that teachers might find useful for demonstrating the relationship between water depth and pressure. (Contains 5 figures and 1 table.)

We present a laboratory exercise that leverages student interest in genetics to observe and understand evolution by natural selection. Students begin with white-eyed fruit fly populations, to which they introduce a single advantageous variant (one male with red eyes). The superior health and vision associated with having the red-eye-color allele…

An undergraduate laboratory experiment is described to measure Henry's law constants of organic compounds using a bubble column and gas chromatography flame ionization detector (GC-FID). This experiment is designed for upper-division undergraduate laboratory courses and can be implemented in conjunction with physical chemistry, analytical…

Fugacity and bioavailability can be used to facilitate students' understanding of potential environmental risks associated with toxic chemicals and, therefore, should be incorporated in environmental chemistry and science laboratories. Although the concept of concentration is easy to grasp, fugacity and bioavailability can be challenging…

Computational chemistry undergraduate laboratory courses are now part of the chemistry curriculum at many universities. However, there remains a lack of computational chemistry exercises available to instructors. This exercise is presented for students to develop skills using computational chemistry software while supplementing their knowledge of…

Anatomy teaching is seeing a decline in both lecture and laboratory hours across many medical schools in North America. New strategies are therefore needed to not only make anatomy teaching more clinically integrated, but also to implement new interactive teaching techniques to help students more efficiently grasp the complex organization of the…

This laboratory is designed for physical chemistry students to gain experience using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy (LIBS) in understanding plasma diagnostics. LIBS uses a high-powered laser that is focused on the sample causing a plasma to form. The emission of this plasma is then spectrally resolved and detected. Temperature and electron…

Populations of the Eastern subterranean termite, "Reticulitermes flavipes," are widespread throughout most of the eastern United States. Subterranean termites have the ability to survive flooding conditions by lowering their metabolism. This lesson investigates the connection between the ability of termites to lower their metabolism to…

Today's electrical and computer engineering graduates need marketable skills to work with electronic devices. Hands-on experiments prepare students to deal with real-world problems and help them to comprehend theoretical concepts and relate these to practical tasks. However, shortage of equipment, high costs, and a lack of human resources for…

This laboratory investigation challenges students to synthesize, analyze, and compare viable alternative fuels to Diesel No. 2 using a renewable resource, as well as readily available reagents and supplies. During the experiment, students synthesized biodiesel from soybean oil in an average percent yield of 83.8 ± 6.3%. They then prepared fuel…

To what extent are identified psychological processes created in laboratories? The present work addresses this issue with reference to one particular realm of behavior: vigilance. Specifically, I argue that the classic vigilance decrement function can be viewed more realistically and advantageously as an "invigilant" increment function. Rather…

Regular high-school chemistry teachers view gifted students as one of several types of students in a regular (mixed-ability) classroom. Gifted students have a range of unique abilities that characterize their learning process: mostly they differ in three key learning aspects: their faster learning pace, increased depth of understanding, and…

This study investigated the implementation of best teaching practices by science graduate teaching assistants [GTAs] (3 chemists and 2 biologists) in five inquiry-based, interdisciplinary chemistry-biology experiments during a six-week professional development (PD) program, Engage PD. Additionally, we examined GTAs' experiences in implementing…

Lab activities have been innovated and progressed to fulfill the purpose that students need to experience physics concepts through hands-on and minds-on interactions. However, student-centered and conceptual activities in physics labs are challenged with time and material constraints that degrades the merits of the learning environment. This study…