Determination of enzyme activity is crucial for discovery, research, and development in life sciences. The activity of enzymes is routinely determined using spectrophotometric assays that measure rates of substrate consumption or product formation. Though colorimetric-based detection systems are simple, rapid, and economical to perform, the…

With the availability of educational digital data acquisition systems, it has also become possible in physics education to generate 'big' data sets by (a) measuring multiple variables simultaneously, (b) increasing the sample rate, (c) extending the measurement duration, or (d) choosing a combination among these three options. In the context of…

The educational system is presently undergoing a substantial change to improve the teaching-learning process of all engineering domains. This includes the utilization of user-friendly simulation tools as part of the laboratory for an enhanced practical experience on a virtual platform. Owing to the advantages of virtual experimentation,…

"Copper to Silver to Gold: The Alchemist's Dream" is an experimental demonstration performed in many schools that involves Zn plating on a Cu coupon to induce brass plating. In this study, a novel method to achieve uniform plating is proposed using a 2.0mol/L ZnCl[subscript 2] aqueous solution, sodium dodecyl sulfate, and Al foil. This…

Green chemistry is finding its place as one of the most essential study topics in the curriculum of future chemists and chemical engineers. Experiments that meet green chemistry principles contribute to make the laboratory a safer working place, generate less waste, and allow students to increase their knowledge in new environmentally friendly…

As the COVID-19 pandemic transformed higher education, St. John's University (New York), among other academic institutions, worked to incorporate methodologies that would allow for social distancing and the attainment of hands-on experience that is expected of a science laboratory course. To account for the constraints that the pandemic posed, St.…

In this article, we describe curricular materials developed to engage undergraduate students in evolutionary thinking around antibiotic resistance using the MEGA-plate experiment (Microbial Evolution and Growth Arena). This elegant and visual experiment, developed by the Kishony Lab, shows the development of antibiotic resistance on the timescale…

The lateral flow immunoassay (LFIA) is a simple and cost-effective rapid diagnostic test designed for the on-site detection of disease biomarkers. In the context of introducing this technique to undergraduate biotechnology students, we propose a comprehensive 5 h laboratory experiment. This experiment covers various aspects, including the…

Triterpenic acids (TA), a class of triterpenoids, are widely distributed as secondary metabolites in plants. They have a pentacyclic structure and show high structural diversity. In this work, a simple but efficient method for extraction and detection of TA derivatives from apple peels is described. The method is technically straightforward and…

The dehydration of 2- or 4-methylcyclohexanol to obtain isomers of methylcyclohexene is a classic organic chemistry experiment. Students perform a distillation, collecting samples to analyze the progress of the reaction. The reaction produces a major product that can be explained on the basis of the regiochemistry of the [pi] bond formation for…

A study with K-9 Greek students was conducted in order to evaluate how the declarative knowledge acquisition was affected by incorporating Arduino experiments in secondary Chemistry Education. A Digital Application (DA) that blends the use of the Arduino sensors' experiments with digital educational material, including Virtual Labs (VLs), was…

We describe an educational activity that can be done by using smartphones to collect data in physics experiments aimed to measure the oscillating period of a spring-mass system and the elastic constant of the helicoidal spring by the dynamic method. Results for the oscillating period and for the elastic constant of the spring agree very well with…

Supersonic free-fall jumps are excellent examples of kinematics in the context of drag. They have attracted a lot of media, public, and scientific interest. In 2012, Felix Baumgartner jumped from a height of approximately 38.969 km. During his flight he reached a top speed of 373 m/s, becoming the first human to travel faster than the speed of…

In this paper, we show a laboratory experience describing the possibility to build a sensor using a coil to measure small thicknesses of materials with the possibility of measuring temperature simultaneously, with the same built sensor. Its operation is based on the following facts: An electric current (a.c), flows through a coil and a magnetic…

We report on a simple, rapid, and room-temperature undergraduate-level experiment for gold nanoparticle synthesis, analysis, and utilization as a catalyst for the sodium-borohydride-assisted reduction of methylene blue and Congo red dyes. Typical procedures toward gold nanoparticle formation require an elaborate, lengthy synthesis (some requiring…