The aim of this study was to investigate how the contextual vocabulary exploration processes of English as a Foreign Language learners can be facilitated in a mobile-supported situated learning environment. A Science and Technology Museum populated with interactive science experiments was chosen as the situated learning context. A mobile…

Ethanol is the primary oxygenate in gasoline in the United States. Gasoline containing various percentages of ethanol is readily available in the market place. A laboratory experiment has been developed in which the percentage of ethanol in hexanes can easily be determined using the O-H and alkane C-H absorptions in an infrared spectrum. Standard…

A modified total synthesis of (S)-goniothalamin is described for an advanced course in organic chemistry. This experiment gives students an opportunity to handle organometallic reagents and perform an enzymatic kinetic resolution and a metathesis reaction, all in the same synthesis. Furthermore, students learn flame-drying techniques for the…

Experiments are described on collisions between two billiard balls and between a bat and a ball. The experiments are designed to extend a student's understanding of collision events and could be used either as a classroom demonstration or for a student project.

Each May a Slovenian science extravaganza called Znanstival (Sciencetival, www.sciencetival.si) fills the streets and other public venues with the excitement of science. Organized by the staff of Hisa eksperimentov (House of Experiments or simply HE, www.he.si), a jewel of a science museum located in the Slovenian capital of Ljubljana, the annual…

In this exercise, an actual chemical reaction, oxidation of iron in air, is studied along with a related analogue simulation of that reaction. The rusting of steel wool is carried out as a class effort. The parallel simulation is performed by students working in small groups. The analogue for the reacting gas is a countable set of discrete marble…

Research-based learning motivates students to identify with different subjects. The orientation program MINTgrün at Technische Universität Berlin offers two study semesters for open choices of teaching modules, including a series of specially designed laboratories covering topics like robotics, construction, environmental research, programming,…

William Henry Bragg moved from Cambridge in Britain to South Australia to take up a professorship at the University of Adelaide in 1885. He brought with him a broad interest in many areas of physics, but when Wilhelm Roentgen discovered X-rays in the 1890s, Bragg's interest was stimulated. William's Australian-born son, Lawrence (WL Bragg), began…

The ripple tank is one of the physics education devices most appreciated by teachers and students. It allows one to visualize various phenomena related to wave physics in an effective and enthralling way. Usually this apparatus consists of a tank with a transparent bottom that is filled with a thin layer of water. A source of light illuminates the…

The leading theory for the origin of the Moon is the giant impact hypothesis, in which the Moon was formed out of the debris left over from the collision of a Mars sized body with the Earth. Soon after its formation, the orbit of the Moon may have been very different than it is today. We have simulated the phases of the Moon in a model for its…

The issue of girls' lack of connection to science has received much attention. Situated approaches such as research apprenticeships offer the chance to engage learners fully in science communities of practice and thus connect girls to science. However, such programs are often designed with lab settings, rather than field settings, in mind. This…

Introductory experiments of chromatography are often conducted by separating colored samples, such as inks, dyes, and plant extracts, using filter paper, chalk, or thin layer chromatography (TLC) plates with various solvent systems. Many simple experiments have been reported. The relationship between normal chromatography and reversed-phase…

The electronic and molecular structure of the acylium cation ([CH[subscript 3]CO][superscript +], 1) receives varied treatment in undergraduate textbooks and online resources. The overall structure of 1 is typically represented as an equal combination of resonance structures containing C-O triple and double bonds, the latter structure occasionally…

Computers and simulations represent an undeniable aspect of daily scientific life, the use of simulations being comparable to the introduction of the microscope and the telescope, in the development of knowledge. In science education, simulations have been proposed for over three decades as useful tools to improve the conceptual understanding of…

Numerous empirical studies have provided evidence of the effectiveness of an explicit and reflective approach to the learning of issues associated with the nature of science (NOS) (c.f. Abd-El-Khalick and Lederman in "J Res Sci Teach" 37(10):1057-1095, 2000). This essay reports the results of a mixed-methods association study involving…