A Quantitative Analysis Lab class was developed that began with 9 weeks of student preparation for the Quant Escape Game (QEG) where the students learned the fundamentals of quantitative analysis. The preparation was followed by the four-week QEG, an active-learning, cooperative-learning, and problem-based learning experience in which the students…

A service learning course has been developed through which undergraduate science students create problem-based learning materials for use in high school science classes. Undergraduate students research active learning pedagogies with a specific focus on problem-based learning, create original materials to be used in grades 11 and 12 chemistry and…

With a growing number of global challenges related to the environment, water, public health, and energy, there is an imminent need to teach chemistry in the context of its interconnectedness with other systems. Project- and problem-based learning are student-centered learning approaches which offer educators the opportunity to engage learners in…

One of the keys to achieving the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in education is to introduce novel pedagogical strategies into university curricula in order to promote an enhanced acute sense of sustainability in future professionals, teachers, and decision-makers. This paper aims at analyzing the effectiveness of including…

Service-learning (SL) is an active learning approach that connects the knowledge a student acquires in the classroom to an application that benefits the community. Increasingly popular in the chemistry curriculum, service-learning is reported to provide student benefits including improved cognitive goals; increased academic, interpersonal, and…

Despite advances in active learning pedagogy and other methods designed to increase student engagement in the chemistry classroom, retention and engagement issues still persist, particularly with respect to women and minorities underrepresented in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) programs. Relevancy also remains elusive in…

An instrumentation-based laboratory curriculum combining traditional unknown analyses with student-designed projects has been developed for an introductory analytical chemistry course. In the first half of the course, students develop laboratory skills and instrumental proficiency by rotating through six different instruments performing…

A Project Based Learning (PBL) methodology was used in the practical laboratories of the Advanced Physical Chemistry department. The project type proposed simulates "real research" focusing on sol-gel synthesis and the application of the obtained sol as a stone consolidant. Students were divided into small groups (2 to 3 students) to…

This paper discusses a K-12/university collaboration in which students participated in a four-day scenario-based summer STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) camp aimed at making difficult scientific concepts salient. This scenario, Jumpstart STEM-CSI: Chocolate Science Investigation (JSCSI), used open- and guided-inquiry…