In the literature on the situated and distributed nature of cognition, the coordination of spatial organization and the structure of human practices and relations is accepted as a fact. To date, science educators have yet to build on such research. Drawing on an ethnographic study of high school students during an internship in a scientific…

This essay discusses Anna Danielsson's article "In the physics class: university physics students' enactments of class and gender in the context of laboratory work". The situated co-construction of knowledge and identity forms the crucial vantage point and I argue that it is a point of intersection between the history of…

This adaptable graduate laboratory course on protein purification offers students the opportunity to explore a wide range of techniques while allowing the instructor the freedom to incorporate their own personal research interests. The course design involves two sequential purification schemes performed in a single semester. The first part…

Anyone who has taught an introductory biology lab has sat at their desk in front of a towering stack of lengthy lab reports and wondered if there was a better way to teach scientific writing. We propose the use of a one-page format that we have called a "mini-report," which we believe better allows students to understand the structure…

Remote access to real experiments is crucial for distance learners to experience the sciences. The exploitation of technology for this purpose is advantageous in global teaching and in exchange of ideas on a single front irrespective of distance barriers. Implementation of the distance method leads to cost-effective integrated-e-learning where…

In laboratory courses, the assessment of exercises and assignments typically is treated as a simple, quantifiable approach. This approach however rarely includes qualitative factors, especially if the grading is being automatically performed by the system, and provides little to no feedback for the students to reflect on their work. The role of…

Intracellular and extracellular communication is conducted through an intricate and interwoven network of signal transduction pathways. The mechanisms for how cells speak with one another are of significant biological importance to both basic and industrial scientists from a number of different disciplines. We have therefore developed and…

Virtual laboratory experiments using interactive computer simulations are not being employed as viable alternatives to laboratory science curriculum at extensive enough rates within higher education. Rote traditional lab experiments are currently the norm and are not addressing inquiry, Critical Thinking, and cognition throughout the laboratory…

One of the more interesting approaches to teaching advanced logic concepts is the use of online laboratory frameworks to provide student access to remote field-programmable devices. There is as yet, however, no conclusive evidence of the effectiveness of such an approach. This paper presents the Advanced Digital Lab, a remote laboratory based on…

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) is a useful and powerful tool to study molecular interactions applied to nanomedicine. The aim of the present study was to implement a hands-on atomic AFM course for graduated biosciences and medical students. The course comprises two distinct practical sessions, where students get in touch with the use of an atomic…

In 2010, Fairfield University, a Jesuit Carnegie Masters Level 1 University located in the Northeast, established its first doctoral-level program: the Doctorate of Nursing Practice (DNP). In a developing program such as the DNP, some of the most pressing concerns of current rhetoric and writing in the disciplines align and interact with the…

This paper describes a web-enabled learning platform providing remote access to geospatial software that extends the learning experience outside of the laboratory setting. The platform was piloted in two undergraduate courses, and includes a software server, a data server, and remote student users. The platform was designed to improve the quality…

Third year chemical engineering undergraduate students at The University of Akron designed and fabricated a heat exchanger for a stirred tank as part of a Chemical Engineering Laboratory course. The heat exchanger portion of this course was three weeks of the fifteen week long semester. Students applied concepts of scale-up and dimensional…

This study evaluates the relationship between academic risk taking and chemistry laboratory anxiety using a relational scanning model. The research sample consisted of 127 undergraduate students (sophomores, juniors and seniors) in the Chemistry Teaching Department at Dicle University. This research was done in the spring semester of the 2012 to…

We review and extend existing frameworks on modeling to develop a new framework that describes model-based reasoning in introductory and upper-division physics laboratories. Constructing and using models are core scientific practices that have gained significant attention within K-12 and higher education. Although modeling is a broadly applicable…