Chemical laboratory safety education is often synonymous with boring, dry, drawn-out lectures. In an effort to challenge this norm and stimulate vivid learning opportunities about laboratory safety, college chemistry classes analyzed a short, humorous video clip of a character, named Mr. Bean, who visits a chemistry laboratory and commits several…

Learning Assistants (LAs) help students develop a deeper understanding of content and are particularly effective during active learning instruction. A foundational pillar of the LA model is the LA pedagogy course, which teaches LAs about evidence-based instruction and about how students learn (Otero et al., 2010). From LA survey responses, this…

The Five Minute Teach (5MT) serves as both a training tool for graduate teaching assistants (TAs) and a format for explicit discipline-based writing instruction. Here the authors describe the development and execution of the 5MT as part of a professional development course for TAs in the sciences. Specifically, the 5MT uses learning objectives and…

In this article, the authors describe how they use a strategic planning tool known as SWOT as a framework for case analysis, using it to analyze the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats of a public works project intended to enhance regional economic development in Tempe, Arizona. Students consider the project in light of a variety of…

Reviews articles and books which focus on topics and strategies related to problem-solving. Also describes the Kepner-Tregoe industrial training program. This program contains many problem-solving ideas and strategies appropriate for the college level. (JN)

Determined if spatial training (independent of classroom, laboratories, and instructors) would improve achievement of organic chemistry students (N=67) at a small liberal arts college and if advanced chemistry students could benefit from such training. The spatial training program systematically developed skills required to use model kits…