As teaching laboratories stand empty in light of COVID-19, we extended the practical experience from the laboratory to the safety of the students' homes. We developed a simple, robust, and versatile at-home experiment that teaches solution preparation, calibration curves, real-life sample preparation, and data analysis to second-year analytical…

The identification of coloring substances is a relevant task in the field of conservation and restoration, but it can be challenging as in real samples the target analytes are inserted in a very complex matrix made of binders and additives. Understanding this concept is fundamental for upper-division undergraduate students interested in…

The contamination of wastewater with metals and the use of biotechnologies to remove them is commonly discussed in theoretical biology, microbiology and biotechnology classes aimed at undergraduate students. This work introduces an easy, economical and safe practical laboratory class related to this topic. The practice consists in performing batch…

Introductory lab courses have been a staple of the physics curriculum for over 100 years. Yet these courses are now poised for change as recent research shows that they do not meet a frequent goal of enhancing student understanding of lecture content. In thinking about how to move forward, a look back at experiment courses in history seems wise.…

The laboratory experiment regarding esterification of ethylene glycol with acetic acid to ethylene glycol diacetate using resin catalysts in a continuous flow was designed to carry out the reaction in a flow through an inquiry-guided approach. Incorporating the burgeoning field of continuous flow chemistry into the educational infrastructure, the…

The switch to online learning required a creative solution to allow for the experiential learning outcomes of the program to be satisfied when access to physical spaces and equipment was restricted. This paper describes a collaborative process between technical and support staff as well as research and teaching faculty that led to the creation of…

Active learning pedagogies offer opportunities to increase student engagement and interest in plants. The Mystery Plant Project is a hands-on, semester-long active learning pedagogy I developed for an introductory, undergraduate Plant Biology course. Students investigate various aspects of their mystery plant species using observations, and…

An increase in online science course offerings requires a closer evaluation of the online laboratory experience. While it has been established that students can successfully learn from online laboratory simulations, there is a lack of knowledge regarding factors that impact student success. Grounded in the constructivist learning theory, a unique…

Polymer chemistry lab experiments present a unique opportunity to allow students to experience the consequences of reaction mechanisms on the properties of the resulting product. In this organic chemistry experiment, students prepared a polyamide by three different reaction mechanisms that represent step-growth and chain-growth methods of…

In this paper, we present a demonstration of Ohm's law on a spreadsheet. Students can perform an experiment of Ohm's law like they perform in laboratories. The only difference is that the apparatus is virtual. The students record readings of current through the circuit and potential difference across a resistor. A graph is drawn between I and V to…

The reduction of alkenes usually involves a hydrogen source and a catalyst. This process is both expensive and not well-suited for a large teaching laboratory. This paper presents an alternative procedure using a mixture of cobalt chloride and sodium borohydride to achieve the reduction of methyl oleate to methyl stearate. This procedure is safe,…

We herein report an efficient aerobic oxidative cleavage of meso-hydrobenzoin to benzaldehyde using a heterogeneous earth-abundant metal oxide catalyst. The reaction can be carried out at 70 °C in ethanol and uses a balloon filled with O2 as oxidant. Reagents are simple and have long shelf lives, and the whole laboratory exercise can be done in…

The bioinspired polymer polydopamine is synthesized and deposited on semiconductive glass substrates under different synthesis conditions (pH and oxidant type). Electrochemical methods are used to verify polymer deposition on the substrate and to examine the charge transfer properties of the obtained coatings. The presence of aromatic rings from…

We have designed an Arduino-based experiment to check the linear relationship between charge and voltage drop in a capacitor. The electric charge stored in a capacitor is determined by the numerical integration over time of the electric current during the charging or discharging processes through a resistor. Instead of using scientific software to…

This study introduces a small-scale chemistry practicum technique with the concept of acid-base identification, determination of pH with indicators, and neutralization reactions with the concept of titration. The first experiences of teachers and students in small-scale chemistry practicums are revealed. Action research was carried out to…