Being able to contextualise and solve complex problems is a highly valued skill in STEM graduates--a skill which we strive to nurture in our students. Since its introduction into undergraduate teaching, laboratory teaching has been used to consolidate students conceptual understanding, develop their practical skills and inculcate an evidence based…

An integrated laboratory experiment applying concepts and techniques from organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry, and instrumental analysis is presented for use in the undergraduate curriculum. This experiment highlights the synthesis, characterization, and use of tris(2-pyridylmethyl)amine (TPMA) to make complexes with different metal salts. It…

Many types of batteries power an ever-growing number of devices. Electrochemical devices like batteries and fuel cells can, in principle, exceed Carnot efficiency for energy conversion. In this novel laboratory experiment, students explore the partitioning of the enthalpy change of a battery's electrochemical reaction between useful electrical…

Recent advances in spectroscopy and computational chemistry facilitate the introduction of current spectroscopic and computational methods at the undergraduate level. Students obtain and analyze experimental and calculated vibrational spectra (infrared and Raman) of a set of alkyne molecules to determine the role of symmetry with respect to gross…

We have developed an integrated, project-oriented curriculum for undergraduate molecular biology and biochemistry laboratory courses spanning two semesters that is organized around the "ldhA" gene from the yogurt-fermenting bacterium "Lactobacillus bulgaricus," which encodes the enzyme d-lactate dehydrogenase. The molecular…

Unlike the large number of laboratory experiments on phase-transfer catalysis (PTC) that focus on a catalyzed chemical process, the present laboratory emphasizes the mechanism of phase transfer catalysis itself. Students can follow visually the actual transfer of the reagent by the catalyst, and its consumption in the organic phase, in a…

The development and evaluation of a two-session laboratory class, based on Geneswitch technology and sex determination in the fruit fly Drosophila melanogaster, is described. Geneswitch system allows conditional control of gene expression. A laboratory exercise has been devised for sophomores in order to illustrate how Geneswitch technology can be…

This paper presents a method to measure the movement of an object from specific locations on a straight line using an iPhone's magnetometer. In this method, called "magnetogate," an iPhone is placed on a moving object (in this case a toy car) and small neodymium magnets are arranged at equal intervals on one side of a straight line. The…

This article describes an experiment teaching polarization phenomena and the Triboelectric Series in a unit on electrostatics. Using rods (2-3 ft in length) made from wood, aluminum, PVC, and Plexiglas on an inverted watch glass, these items demonstrated to the class how a party balloon rubbed with fake rabbit fur (charging the balloon negative)…

Experiments that measure the speed of sound in air are common in high schools and colleges. In the Kundt's tube experiment, a horizontal air column is adjusted until a resonance mode is achieved for a specific frequency of sound. When this happens, the cork dust in the tube is disturbed at the displacement antinode regions. The location of the…

This paper describes a simple experiment that lets first-year physics and engineering students discover an important physical property of a Slinky. The restoring force for the fundamental oscillation frequency is provided only by those coils between the support and the Slinky center of mass.

Melton demonstrated a surprising disappearance using total internal reflection. When he put a Florence flask filled with marbles into a water tank and looked straight down from directly above the flask, he was only able to see marbles above a certain water level. When he added more water into the tank above the top line of the marbles, all of the…

Three days into the academic year, the COVID-19 pandemic abruptly led to emergency remote teaching, ERT, of Chemical Experimentation--a revised alternative to the majors' General Chemistry Laboratory at the University of Costa Rica. The course was reoriented to support students' development of nontechnical experimentation skills and scientific…

The author believes that science within a primary school is there to enable children to be interested in the world around them and to help them start to understand it, getting them interested in the very basics, and pointing out things around them that they had not considered, so that they can start asking the questions 'why' and 'how' and 'what'…

The Next-Lab project provides free web-based resources supporting teachers in enhancing students' learning experiences. By including online laboratories, experiments otherwise difficult or impossible to perform are facilitated (e.g. crashing meteoroids into Earth). This article briefly presents the project and opportunities offered to teachers and…