Safe and high-quality water is essential from both the health and environmental perspectives. Water quality is so important that the United Nations has included water in the 17 Sustainable Development Goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Thus, the adequate control and treatment of water are necessities. These tasks must be…

Flow cytometry has become an important tool in the fields of veterinary, medicine, and biological sciences in general. However, in the introductory and even in advanced university degree courses, students do not have many opportunities to be in contact with this type of technology. This situation motivated us to design a simple and inexpensive…

Comprehensive monitoring in virtual laboratory learning needs a task model. This model was design based on inquiry skills, social and scientific communication of prospective physics teachers. The development of these three skills is still a problem in recent research on virtual laboratory learning. This research was research and development (RD)…

This article describes the use of project-based instruction in activities and labs intended to develop higher-order thinking skills with high school students and pre-service teachers through the use of soap making.

A reality show about a college course--a chemistry class no less? That's what "ChemLab Boot Camp" is. The 14-part series of short videos is being released one episode at a time on the online learning site of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The novel show follows a diverse group of 14 freshmen as they struggle to master the…

A number of current reports are challenging educators of undergraduate biology students to increase the role, interactions and approaches of other disciplines. The goal stated in these reports is to produce a college graduate with the skills and competencies to solve pressing global problems such as producing ample food, fuels, and making health…

With the continual growth and demand of online courses, higher education institutions are attempting to meet the needs of today's learners by modifying and developing new student centered services and programs. As a result, faculty members are being forced into teaching online, including Earth and Space science faculty. Online Earth and Space…

Late in the winter of 2010, teachers across Massachusetts received invitations to apply for six- to eight-week Research Experiences for Teachers (RET) in which middle or high school teachers in STEM subjects would work alongside scientists and their graduate students as they sought to solve real-world problems. This country-wide effort was funded…

Laboratory exercises, which utilize alkaline phosphatase as a model enzyme, have been developed and used extensively in undergraduate biochemistry courses to illustrate enzyme steady-state kinetics. A bioinformatics laboratory exercise for the biochemistry laboratory, which complements the traditional alkaline phosphatase kinetics exercise, was…

We developed and implemented a yearlong safety program into our organic chemistry lab courses that aims to enhance student attitudes toward safety and to ensure students learn to recognize, demonstrate, and assess safe laboratory practices. This active, collaborative program involves the use of student "safety teams" and includes…

Since 2002, the PhET Interactive Simulations project at the University of Colorado has been working to provide learning tools for students and teachers. The project has developed over 85 interactive simulations--or sims--for teaching and learning science. Although these sims can be used in a variety of ways, they are specifically designed to make…

Research-like experiences range from relatively "canned" labs that are highly controlled by the instructor (such as those described in Lord and Orkwiszewski 2006) to more individually designed projects (e.g., Switzer and Shriner 2000; Wyatt 2005). This article describes a laboratory approach that allows for many of the benefits of independent or…

Capillary electrophoresis is gradually working its way into the undergraduate laboratory curriculum. Typically, experiments utilizing this newer technology have been introduced into analytical or instrumental courses. The authors of this article have introduced an experiment into the introductory laboratory that utilizes capillary electrophoresis…

Describes the Iowa General Chemistry Network that was developed to change content, teaching, and learning methods of introductory college chemistry courses. Highlights include using the Iowa Communications Network for distance education and curriculum reform, using the Internet and World Wide Web, and chemistry laboratory experiences and…

An experimental exercise on analytical proficiency studies in collaborative trials is proposed. This practical provides students in advanced undergraduate courses in chemistry, pharmacy, and biochemistry, with the opportunity to improve their quality assurance skills. It involves an environmental analysis, determining the concentration of a…