There is a growing need for workers with STEM-aligned training in the modern global economy, but a paucity of workers to fill these positions. One important contributor to this issue is low student persistence in STEM. Nontraditional science courses that utilize more active-participation and learning are attractive as tools to increase student…

Readily available, free, computational approaches, adaptable for topics accessible for first to senior year classes and individual research projects, emphasizing contributions of noncovalent interactions to structure, binding and catalysis were used to teach Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences that fulfil generally accepted main CURE…

A common misconception about dissolving is that heating and/or stirring are required for the dissolving process to occur. In this study, quantitative experimental evidence was collected and analyzed to demonstrate that neither heating nor stirring is required for dissolving. Educators can use the data and results in this study to address this…

We report a series of experiments based upon cinnamon oil that were developed to provide a practical integration of green and sustainable chemistry concepts for the organic chemistry laboratory. Five experiments centering around cinnamaldehyde as a green, plant-based chemical were performed by undergraduate students in a second-year organic…

Many STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) disciplines require a two-semester sequence of introductory college chemistry, which are thus critical gateway courses to a variety of majors. Recognizing the benefit to educators of a structure of content learning across the chemistry curriculum, in 2012, the American Chemical Society…

Spontaneity criteria for processes with useful (especially electrical) work have been discussed based on total differentials of thermodynamic functions. Reaction Gibbs energy ([Delta][subscript r]G) and electrochemical reaction Gibbs energy ([Delta][subscript r]G~) have been juxtaposed. Three-dimensional graphs showing the dependencies of…

Students in an upper-level physical chemistry course used a polarimeter to measure the molar optical rotation of different optically active amino acids to confirm the Clough, Lutz, and Jirgensons (CLJ) rule. This rule states that an amino acid is in the l-configuration if the molar optical rotation becomes more positive upon the addition of acid…

Regioselectivity in hetero Diels-Alder reactions can be observed in a simple reaction between a nonsymmetrical heterodiene and an unsymmetrical heterodienophile. A 9 h and easy to implement laboratory experiment is described, in which students can observe the regioselectivity of inverse "electron-demand" hetero Diels-Alder reactions of…

Typical laboratory exercises for undergraduate organic chemistry students involve bulk phase reactions with work up of product. In this study, students performed accelerated versions of the Katritzky reaction of para-substituted anilines with pyrylium salts in three ways: (i) by dropcasting reagents onto a paper surface and allowing solvent to…

Time-resolved luminescence lifetime measurements are an important photophysical technique. However, access to this technique at the undergraduate level is limited by the expense of the instrumentation needed to create the well-defined light pulses required to measure the luminescence decay of an excited state molecule. We present here an…

A Microsoft Excel workbook has been developed to simplify the quantitative analysis of experimentally measured titration curves for diprotic and triprotic amino acids such as glycine, arginine, histidine, and glutamate. Students perform the titration, enter the data into the worksheet, and manually adjust the resulting pK[subscript a] values to…

Einstein's relation between mass and energy is perhaps the most famous equation of Physics. Despite its simplicity, the meaning of E[subscript 0] = mc[superscript 2] is not easy to grasp. Furthermore, its traditional derivations rely either on the integral of "momentum," on properties of electromagnetic radiation, or even on the…

Symbols are a cornerstone of the written language of physics and mathematics but inconsistencies in their use pose a challenge to students. This article reports on interviews held with first-year undergraduate physics students, focused on their early experiences with symbols in university physics. Students reported being confused by the symbolic…

Introductory university astronomy courses have emerged as a powerful opportunity to improve science understanding, literacy, and appreciation of the scientific method to a wide range of future citizens and voters. Students in an introductory astronomy course were instructed to record and analyze their naked-eye astronomical observations over a…

Nowadays Molecular Cell Biology (MCB) must be taught as science is practiced. Even though there are several approaches based on scientific practices, a key aspect is to define the purpose of each of these teaching strategies and, most importantly, their implementation. Our goal was to train students to acquire, understand, and communicate new…