A guided-inquiry lab, suitable for first-year general chemistry or high school advanced placement chemistry, is presented that uses only inexpensive, store-bought materials. The reaction of sodium bicarbonate (baking soda) with aqueous acetic acid (vinegar), under the constraint of the challenge to completely fill a sealable plastic bag with the…

Determining the gas constant "R" by measuring the properties of hydrogen gas collected in a gas buret is well suited for comparing two approaches to uncertainty analysis using a single data set. The brevity of the experiment permits multiple determinations, allowing for statistical evaluation of the standard uncertainty u[subscript…

Nanotoxicity is an area of intense research, stimulated by increased use of nanoparticles in commercially available products. Herein, using nanotoxicity as a platform, we describe an experiment that emphasizes interdisciplinary science in a collaborative work setting while expanding the traditional realm of chemistry and chemistry research.…

An experiment was developed to demonstrate a microfluidic device in the analytical chemistry (instrumental analysis) laboratory. Students made the paper-based microfluidic device with a wax pen and a piece of filter paper and used it to determine the total quantity of amino acids in a green tea leaf extract. The device is low cost, easy-to-make,…

Difficulties encountered by teachers in giving a definition of the term "energy", and by students in grasping its actual meaning, reflect the lengthy process through which the concept eventually came to maturity around 1850. Tracing the history of this process illuminates the different aspects covered by the term and shows the important…

Baking cakes with different recipes can provide an exercise in the application of the scientific method, illustrating the need to vary only one ingredient at a time for correct derivation of conclusions. This experiment, most likely to be performed at home, compares a cake flour with flours from durum wheat, rice and cornflour (gluten-free…

We propose an experiment for investigating how objects cool down toward the thermal equilibrium with their surroundings. We describe the time dependence of the temperature difference of the cooling objects and the environment with an exponential decay function. By measuring the thermal constant t, we determine the convective heat-transfer…

Both Lavoisier and Priestley were committed to the role of experiment and observation in their chemistry practice. According to Lavoisier the physical sciences embody three important ingredients; facts, ideas, and language, and Priestley would not have disagreed with this. Ideas had to be consistent with the facts generated from experiment and…

The objective of our program is to foster and facilitate authentic research experiences in middle and high school science courses. We do so by providing students with a complete experience in scientific experimentation and communication. The centerpiece is a set of experiment modules in which students investigate the effects of toxic chemicals on…

Blowing bubbles is not only a favorite summer activity for young children. Studying bubbles that are grouped together, or "foam," is fun for children and fascinating to many real-world scientists. Foam is widely used--from the bedroom (mattresses) to outer space (insulating panels on spacecraft). Bubble foam can provide children a…

This column shares safety information for the classroom. STEAM subjects--science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics--are essential for fostering students' 21st-century skills. STEAM promotes critical-thinking skills, including analysis, assessment, categorization, classification, interpretation, justification, and prediction, and are…

This article describes an interdisciplinary unit in which students explore biological "ice nucleation"--by particles that cause water to freeze at temperatures above -38°C--through the lens of the microbial ice nucleator "Pseudomonas syringae." Such This activity, which aligns with the "Next Generation Science…

Science education research has shown that students use causal reasoning, particularly the model "agent--instrument--object," to explain or predict the outcome of many natural situations. Students' reasoning seems to be based on a small set of few intuitive rules. One of these rules quantitatively correlates the outcome of an experiment…

Astro Academy: Principia is an education programme developed by the UK National Space Academy for the UK Space Agency (UKSA) and the European Space Agency (ESA). The Academy designed, constructed, flight-qualified and developed experimental procedures for a suite of physics and chemistry demonstration experiments that were conducted by ESA…

Information literacy is of paramount importance to any successful research program. Information techniques and skills should be infused throughout a student's undergraduate curriculum rather than being the focus of a single course. To this end, we have created several courses, beginning in the first year, where students review current scientific…