Undergraduate organic chemistry laboratory courses act as a baseline for introductory scientific experimentation. These courses provide students with the knowledge and skills for their future careers. The traditional lab is conducted by providing a structured protocol of the experiment for the students to follow and reproduce the assigned task…

Diffraction refers to a kind of optical phenomena which occurs when light approaches an element (object or aperture) whose features are in the range of the illuminating wavelength (small apertures, sharp edges). It can be explained by means of the undulatory nature of light or also geometrically by using simple ray optics. Diffraction phenomena…

Research into seed germination classroom activities has been common in the last few decades. Didactic proposals have generally focused on the implementation of guided activities in a specific educational stage and context, and an evaluation of the results. However, it is not evident that students approach seed and germination concepts with a…

The authors present two classroom experiments on technology licensing. The first classroom experiment introduces the concept of royalty stacking. Students learn that noncooperative pricing of royalties for complementary intellectual property rights leads to a double-marginalization effect. Cooperation solves the problem and is welfare-improving.…

The author investigates the learning efficiency of economic experiments, an innovative instructional tool that re-creates the outside world within the classroom. This tool enables the instructor to create an economic environment whereby students experience how their decisions and interactions create the market forces predicted by the economic…

This paper provides details on a classroom experiment that focuses on returns to foreign assets given uncertain future exchange rates. Students are assigned the role of foreign analysts and decide how much to invest abroad given their expectations about future exchange rates. The experiment allows students to practice calculating the returns to…

Ohm's law and Kirchhoff's rules refer to stationary states and do not provide any indications of the always-present transition processes that connect these states and cause their respective setting. Through the use of suitable simulation programs these transition processes are accessible to classroom activities and allow a deeper and more coherent…

This paper presents a personal account of the use of Google Classroom as a Learning Management System in the Chemistry theory and laboratory courses with the undergraduate students. Some useful features of the application are presented, with the focus on its affordances to create engaging learning environments. In its professed role in augmenting…

Women are underrepresented at multiple levels of physics education. One avenue for understanding the classroom experiences that perpetuate underrepresentation is physics identity, defined using the three dimensions of recognition, performance, and competence. Existing literature suggests that women tend to have a much weaker physics identity than…