Calculating analytical uncertainties as a part of method validation is a relevant aspect of field and laboratory practices in instrumental analytical chemistry subjects, which usually require complex algorithms. This work describes the development and didactic use of an automatic and straightforward informatics tool, implemented in an Excel macro,…

As the size of a nanoparticle is reduced, the fraction of surface atoms increases. It is interesting to note that various chemical and physical properties depend on the fraction of surface atoms. One of the most obvious questions that arise is how could one possibly estimate the fraction of surface atoms in a nanoparticle? Herein, we discuss…

CRISPR (also known as CRISPR-Cas9) is a powerful biotechnology tool that gives scientists unprecedented access to the genetic makeup of all living organisms, including humans. It originally evolved as an adaptive immune system in bacteria to defend against viruses. When artificially harnessed in the laboratory it allows scientists to accurately…

Simplified, reductionist approaches to curriculum design and delivery are pervasive in science education. In ecological curricula--particularly in, but not limited to K-12--biomes, ecosystems, habitats, and other units of study are simplified and presented as static, easily identified and described entities. Characteristics, components, and…

In this paper, we discuss what creativity may look like in the science classroom and what we learnt from teaching with student-generated diagrams to promote creativity in Year 7 Science lessons. As a result of this study, most students were able to communicate a deeper understanding of complex phenomena and were able to apply this knowledge both…

Organic chemistry is notorious for being difficult to learn. Herein we describe a two-pronged approach to engage students in the ability to afford successful knowledge building. We have drawn on focus group interviews with students to show that the approach is appreciated by the students. The two prongs comprise peer learning in small groups and…

The United States still has one of the lowest evolution acceptance rates in the world. Biology educators have been diligent in their methods to increase evolution acceptance and knowledge, with much success. However, misconceptions still arise through education, textbooks, and even social and religious settings that may influence our citizens' low…

Digital media tasks are increasingly used in university settings to assess students' scientific knowledge. The use of such tasks has generated the need for principled analytical approaches to better understand how meaning-making operates in these artefacts. However, there has been a proliferation of approaches to multimodality in recent years and…

Although principles and practices of green and sustainable chemistry have been articulated for more than 20 years, they have yet to become systemically infused into the undergraduate chemistry curriculum. The American Chemical Society Green Chemistry Institute (ACS GCI) has convened stakeholders from across the chemistry education community to…

This article describes the organization of a one-day ChemEd Summit that brought together 73 participants from academic, industrial, government, and nonprofit chemical sciences organizations with the aim to guide future initiatives and collaborative strategies to enhance student readiness for the workforce. Registered participants were asked to…

With many universities now admitting students into their science programs with little or no prior knowledge of the relevant field, significant challenges arise in the way these fields are introduced. Challenges mount with various preconceived ideas regarding the levels of difficulty, thus necessitating introductory concepts be presented in…

Electrochemistry is omnipresent in our lives, but students often do not recognize that the electrochemistry they learn in general chemistry happens in the batteries on which we depend. Students also may not recognize that they have the power to make greener choices about batteries using their knowledge of chemistry. This 4 h general chemistry…

This article describes the implementation of a student-generated open educational resource project into a majors' organic chemistry laboratory. This scaffolded semester-long project was organized into six phases and designed to promote the goals of teaching students about both green chemistry and real-life applications of the reactions covered in…

The Clemmensen reduction is a common example of a reaction demonstrating the deoxygenation of carbonyl groups, which is a topic that has been widely studied in the field of organic chemistry. The use of trimethylchlorosilane, as a substitute for concentrated hydrochloric acid, allows for the reduction of carbonyl groups. The Clemmensen reduction…

Excluded-volume interactions are ubiquitous to modeling the average size of polymers in solution. This paper shows how simulations can be used by students to explore the emergence of mathematical scaling relations from excluded-volume interactions. Simulations provide robust visual representations of the system, and can be used to investigate a…