1000 Future Scientists (1000FSc) is a university extension project developed at the Department of Chemistry in Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG). Conducted by the Higher Education Administrative Technicians and Professors, it presents the university to the community by proposing an engaging experience for elementary and high school…

Many students consume energy drinks without knowing or thinking about the adverse side effects. The purpose of this article is to share student procedures and results after testing the effects of a popular energy drink, Red Bull, on Dugesia Dorotocephala planarians (flatworms). Planarians are animals with neurotransmitters systems that are similar…

A laboratory experiment was developed to enable students to investigate the use of smart hydrogels for potential application in targeted drug delivery. This is challenging for students to explore practically because of the extremely high risks of handling cross-linking agents such as glutaraldehyde. Genipin is a safe and green alternative that has…

There is an increasing focus across all educational sectors to ensure that learning objectives are aligned with learning activities and assessments. An attractive approach previously published is that of curriculum alignment projects. This paper discusses the use of the fun and famous "Elephant's Toothpaste" experiment as a customizable…

Students should enjoy their laboratory classes and for this purpose a project-based activity is added to a conventional physical chemistry laboratory. Students were given project work instead of conventional experiment and then they had to make progress in the project according to instructions and then carry out experiments related to the project.

Suggests that the Friedel-Crafts reaction, used for synthesizing a wide range of aromatic compounds, is an ideal vehicle for extended senior high school project work in chemistry. Provides a theoretical discussion of the reaction, suggests a number of suitable investigations, and outlines the experimental details. (JR)

Describes a synthetic organic laboratory experiment which ensures independence of students but is not excessively demanding of instructor time. Each student is provided with different starting materials to prepare different flavones but use the same general procedure, the "organic synthesis" flavone preparation. Various features of this procedure…

A practical exercise for developing a simple cost-effective solar ultraviolet radiation dosimeter is presented for use by middle school science students. Specifically, this exercise investigates a series of experiments utilising the historical blue print reaction, combining ammonium iron citrate and potassium hexacyanoferrate to develop an…

Presents background information, materials needed, and experimental procedures to study enzymes dependent on pyridine nucleotide coenzymes (NAD/NADH). The experiments, suitable for advanced organic or biochemistry courses, require approximately 10-15 hours to complete. (SK)

Describes a Malaysian school project which deals with tin, and extracting tin from its ore in the laboratory, as well as the economics involved and the locating and mining the ore. (HM)

An experiment is described in which undergraduate students can optimize the relative yield of sec-butylbenzene by varying molar ratio and temperature. (Author/SA)

A pedagogical experiment is described to examine the physical absorption of gases, in this case carbon dioxide, in a hollow fiber membrane contactor (HFMC) where the absorption concentration profile can be followed by a color change. The HFMC is used to teach important concepts and can be used in interesting applications for students, such as…

This is a collection of reports of student award winning science projects that have appeared in "The Science Teacher." Grade levels 7-12 are represented with projects categorized as follows: biology, chemistry and physics, earth-space science, and miscellaneous. In each section the abstracts are arranged in order of increasing complexity…

Describes a chemistry club project. Explains the three goals: to enhance hands-on science in elementary classrooms, to encourage females to enter the field of science, and to encourage high school students to consider teaching as a career choice. Provides an outline and examples of the characters and demonstrations. (RT)

Describes an advanced NMR project that can be done with a 60-MHz continuous-wave proton spectrometer. Points out the main purposes are to give students experience in second-order NMR analysis, the simplification of spectra by raising the frequency, and the effect of non-hydrogen nuclei on proton resonances. (MVL)