This undergraduate organic laboratory exercise involves the sulfuric acid-catalyzed conversion of waste vegetable oil into biodiesel. The acid-catalyzed method, although inherently slower than the base-catalyzed methods, does not suffer from the loss of product or the creation of emulsion producing soap that plagues the base-catalyzed methods when…

This guide was developed with the intention of helping teachers and school site administrators in California review the elementary science curriculum and compare it to an idealized model that is presented in the document. Part I of the guide provides a summary of a number of characteristics considered to be important to a strong elementary science…

This publication provides information and activities for teaching about seashells and process skills including observing, classifying, collecting and interpreting data, inferring, measuring, and predicting. There are 10 lessons. Lessons 1 through 5 deal with an introduction to shells, why animals have shells, observing and classifying shells, the…

This publication provides information and activities for teaching concepts about machines and process skills including observing, classifying, collecting and interpreting data, inferring, measuring, and predicting. There are 15 lessons. Lessons 1 through 5 deal with what machines are, measuring force with a spring scale, working with a lever,…

This publication provides information and activities for identifying objects using the five senses and process skills including observing, classifying, collecting and interpreting data, inferring, and predicting. Lessons 1 through 3 deal with the identification of an unknown substance and the physical properties of powders. Lessons 4 through 6 are…

This publication provides information and activities for teaching about vegetables and process skills including observing, classifying, collecting and interpreting data, inferring, measuring, and predicting. There are 12 lessons. Lessons 1 through 5 pertain to growing, rinsing, and observing sprouts. Lessons 6 and 8 through 11 deal with tasting…

This publication provides information and activities for teaching about insects and process skills including observing, classifying, collecting and interpreting data, inferring, measuring, and predicting. There are 13 lessons. Lessons 1 through 3 deal with insects, in general, and with moths and butterflies. Lessons 4 through 7 consist of…

This publication provides information and activities for teaching about seeing, hearing, tasting, smelling, and touch and process skills, including observing, classifying, collecting and interpreting data, inferring, measuring, and predicting. There are 12 lessons. Lessons 1 and 2 deal with classification using sight. Lessons 3 and 4 cover a book…

This publication provides information and activities for teaching about water, whether certain objects will sink or float, and process skills including observing, classifying, inferring, measuring, predicting, and collecting and interpreting data. There are 14 lessons in the unit. The first four lessons deal with the classification of objects and…

Discusses instructional strategies and activities designed to help students learn to recognize patterns and to create models to explain patterns. These include laboratory investigations and an exercise in which students are challenged to find the model used for the classroom seating arrangement. (JN)

Describes a year long laboratory program for third, fourth, and fifth graders. States the goal of the program is to demonstrate what chemistry is, how it is done, and why it is fun and interesting. Provides a syllabus of the experiments and lists educational objectives. (MVL)

Addresses whether or not science laboratory activities should become a thing of the past. Discusses the impact of the curriculum reforms of the 1960s and 1970s, physical restraints which cause teacher overload, rationale, and objectives of laboratory work. (RT)

Explains the use of the microcomputer as a multipurpose analytical instrument which frees students from the mechanics of science and allows for more active learning involvement. Provides the typical data acquisition configuration, advantages, disadvantages, and a brief summary. (RT)

Smaller amounts of materials are used in organic chemistry experiments as a means of improving air quality in the laboratory. Presents a preliminary study of the emissions from selected processes and the mixing of these emissions within the laboratory atmosphere. (JN)

Describes the state-of-the-art in computer interfacing in the biology laboratory. Discusses hardware and software. Enumerates the educational benefits from instrumentation such as cost effectiveness and increased student opportunity and motivation. Includes 14 references. (CW)