Enzymes are nature's catalysts, mediating chemical processes in living systems. The study of enzyme function and mechanism includes defining the maximum catalytic rate and affinity for substrate/s (among other factors), referred to as enzyme kinetics. Enzyme kinetics is a staple of biochemistry curricula and other disciplines, from molecular and…

The purpose of this article is twofold. The first is to provide evaluative information on the recovery of model parameters and their standard errors for the two-parameter item response theory (IRT) model using different estimation methods by Mplus. The second is to provide easily accessible information for practitioners, instructors, and students…

This book brings together a collection of work from around the world in order to consider effective STEM, robotics, mobile apps education from a range of perspectives. It presents valuable perspectives--both practical and theoretical--that enrich the current STEM, robotics, mobile apps education agenda. As such, the book makes a substantial…

This article comes from a question asked by a student of mine: if the Sun radiates energy in the form of electromagnetic waves, could they shift the Earth from its current orbit on a suitable timescale? The answer to such a question is apparently obvious and trivial. Nevertheless, it requires an instructive reasoning and interesting estimates of…

Confidence interval estimation is a fundamental technique in statistical inference. Margin of error is used to delimit the error in estimation. Dispelling misinterpretations that teachers and students give to these terms is important. In this note, we give examples of the confusion that can arise in regard to confidence interval estimation and…

We consider the effect on estimation of simultaneous variable centering and interaction effects in linear regression. We technically define, review, and amplify many of the statistical issues for interaction models with centering in order to create a useful and compact reference for teachers, students, and applied researchers. In addition, we…

Based on the Lobatto quadrature, we develop several new closed form approximations to the mathematical constant "e." For validating effectiveness of our approximations, a comparison of our results to the existing approximations is also presented. Another objective of our work is to inspire students to formulate other better approximations by using…

We explicitly show that the well-known transmission and reflection amplitudes of planar slabs, obtained via an algebraic summation of Fresnel amplitudes, are completely equivalent to those obtained from transfer matrices in the scattering approach. This equivalence makes the finite periodic systems theory a powerful alternative to the cumbersome…

A visual method for counting significant digits is presented. This easy-to-learn (and easy-to-teach) method, designated the box-and-dot method, uses the device of "boxing" significant figures based on two simple rules, then counting the number of digits in the boxes. (Contains 4 notes.)

Now in a fully updated second edition, "Unlocking Mathematics Teaching" is a comprehensive guide to teaching mathematics in the primary school. Combining theory and practice, selected experts outline the current context of mathematics education. They suggest strategies, activities and examples to help develop readers understanding and confidence…

Acceleration is a fundamental concept in physics which is taught in mechanics at all levels. Here, we discuss some challenges in teaching this concept effectively when the path along which the object is moving has a curvature and centripetal acceleration is present. We discuss examples illustrating that both physics teachers and students have…

Trigonometric parallax is a powerful method to work out the distance of celestial bodies, and it was used in the past to measure the distance of the Moon, Venus, Mars and nearby stars. We set up an observation campaign for high school and undergraduate students with the purpose to measure both the Moon's and Mars' parallax. To have a large enough…

Many physical chemistry lab courses include an experiment in which students measure surface tension as a function of surfactant concentration. In the traditional experiment, the data are fit to the Gibbs isotherm to determine the molar area for the surfactant, and the critical micelle concentration is used to calculate the Gibbs energy of micelle…

This paper describes a computational exercise at undergraduate level that demonstrates the employment of Monte Carlo simulation to study the conformational statistics of flexible polymer chains, and to predict solution properties. Three simple chain models, including excluded volume interactions, have been implemented in a public-domain computer…

This article shows how to use six parameters describing the International Space Station's orbit to predict when and in what part of the sky observers can look for the station as it passes over their location. The method requires only a good background in trigonometry and some familiarity with elementary vector and matrix operations. An included…