In this article, we describe a fully computational laboratory exercise that results in an increase of students' understanding of what quantum chemical geometry optimization calculations are doing to find minimum energy structures. This laboratory exercise was conducted several times over multiple years at a small private undergraduate institution,…

An understanding of basic organic chemical reactivity is key for many biosciences students. The reactivities of different carbonyl groups affect their function in many biomolecules. A practical class, the two-step synthesis of paracetamol, has been devised to illustrate the electrophilic reactivities of carbonyls, which was covered in the…

Central to conceptual understanding of STEM disciplines is visuospatial processing. Despite its acknowledged role in assuring learners' success, less is known about the underlying reasoning students must employ when solving 3-D problems and the ways in which gaining an understanding of this can inform formative assessment and learning in STEM…

Designing safer chemicals is an integral part of green chemistry that supports good health and well-being. The teaching of molecule design through relevant courses has important implications for the education of sustainable chemists. In these courses, training in toxicology and hazard assessment is essential for students to study benign chemical…

This mini-review attempts to provide a capsule overview of the role of genetic factors in reading and its development across languages and writing systems. The review is conceived and executed with a scoping review approach, synthesizing the methods employed in the existing research rather than producing a summary of evidence to answer a discrete…

Why do we need to pour less water in an egg steamer to prepare more eggs to the same degree of 'doneness'? We discuss the physical processes at work in the electric egg steamer and resolve this seeming paradox. We demonstrate that the main heat transfer mechanism from steam to egg is due to latent heat through condensation. This not only explains…

This perspective paper analyses the possibilities and challenges of using cheminformatics as a context for STEM education. The objective is to produce theoretical insights through a SWOT analysis of an authentic educational cheminformatics project where future chemistry teachers engineered a physical 3D model using cheminformatics software and a…

An absorption line at 900 nm has been observed in Perspex. Samples of 1 and 2 cm thickness were used and the integrated absorption (line width times peak absorption) of the line was proportionate to the thickness. Facilities for lowering the sample temperature were not available and therefore both measurements were carried out at room temperature.…

The goal of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of organic chemistry textbooks in developing student representational competence skills with eight representations of molecular structure (Lewis structures, Kekulé structures, condensed structures, electrostatic potential maps, skeletal structures, dash-wedge diagrams, Newman projections,…

Using crystal structure data, site directed mutagenesis, and real-time kinetic assays, students designed, expressed, and purified engineered mutants of human insulin-degrading enzyme (IDE). Students designed their own IDE mutants following "in silico" analysis, used inverse PCR to generate mutant plasmid expression constructs, expressed…

The structure and function of biomolecules relationship is the hallmark of biochemistry, molecular biology, and life sciences in general. Physical models of macromolecules give students the possibility to manipulate these structures in three dimensions, developing a sense of spatiality and a better understanding of key aspects such as atom size…

An operationally simple, reliable synthesis of ethynylated acenes suitable for an upper-division undergraduate organic chemistry laboratory course has been developed. This experiment requires students to synthesize two acene derivatives and can be completed in 6-8 laboratory sessions (3 h each); a shorter experiment could be realized in the…

Prospective preschool teachers (PPTs) need to have learning experiences with the practice of scientific modelling to be able to design appropriate lessons as teachers. In the literature on research in science education, scarce experiences of PPTs in scientific modelling can be found. This study aims to fill the knowledge gap about PPTs'…

This paper addresses policy effects of international mobility in developing countries. It proposes a multilevel approach to study research training policies, specifically focusing on international mobility schemes as capacity-building instruments, where effects need to be identified at both individual and organizational levels. The paper asserts…

The rise of virtual and online education in recent years has led to the development and popularization of many online tools, notably three-dimensional (3D) models and augmented reality (AR), for visualizing various structures in chemical sciences. The majority of the developed tools focus on either small molecules or biological systems, as…