Lab activities are an important element of an undergraduate physics course. In these lab activities, students construct and interpret graphs in order to connect the procedures of the lab with an understanding of the related physics concepts. This study investigated undergraduate students' construction and interpretation of graphs with best-fit…

This educational research seeks to develop novel laboratory modules by using Case Studies in the Science Teaching method to introduce sustainability and environmental engineering laboratory concepts to 21st century learners. The increased interest in "going green" has led to a surge in the number of engineering students studying…

Monohybrid crosses are taught in biology labs across the country using peas and corn. Students studying monohybrid crosses using zebrafish ("Danio rerio") would encounter a new model organism, and those interested in human or veterinary medicine would have increased interest. To this end, our college has implemented a laboratory exercise at the…

Describes a laboratory employed in undergraduate teaching that uses fruit flies to test student-selected compounds for their ability to cause mutations. Requires no prior experience with fruit flies, incorporates a student design component, and employs both rigorous controls and statistical analyses. (DDR)

Reviewed are the basic concepts of experimental design, analysis of data, and optimization. Discussed are two-level factorial designs; fractional factorial designs and blocking, additive, linear, and quadratic models; quadratic and composite designs; and designing experiments in design. (CW)

A field-based exercise which illustrates one aspect of how leaves in multilayered trees take advantage of light microenvironments is presented. Procedures, tree selection and data analysis are discussed. (CW)

Described are teaching methods used to teach measures of central tendency to middle and high school students. Discussed are quantitative and qualitative data, basic experimental terms, a general overview of data analysis, data charts for quantitative data, qualitative data analysis, and extensions for older students. (CW)

Presented is an approach to introducing upper division, undergraduate geology students to nonparametric statistics and their application to geologic data. Discussed are the use of the Mann-Whitney U and the Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests and a class assignment which illustrates their use. (CW)

Presented is an experiment where the concentrations of three metal ions in a solution are simultaneously determined by ultraviolet-vis spectroscopy. Availability of the computer program used for statistically analyzing data using a multivariate linear regression is listed. (KR)

Described is a study designed to introduce students to the behavior of common invertebrate animals, and to use of the chi-square statistical technique. Discusses activities with snails, pill bugs, and mealworms. Provides an abbreviated chi-square table and instructions for performing the experiments and statistical tests. (CW)