This paper addresses the question of whether particle ideas help or hinder young pupils' understanding of changes of state and dissolving. Two matched groups in a primary school in Greece (ages 10/11, n = 20 and n = 19) were respectively taught one of two parallel lesson schemes. Covering the same phenomena, one scheme incorporated particle ideas,…

As one of the authors was warning the fifth-grade class about protecting clothes from spills in the lab, one student commented that his pants wouldn't stain because they were covered with some "nano stuff." The class tossed water on the pants and watched it bead up and roll off "like magic." The class's interest was piqued, and the questions…

In this article, the author discusses a tornado-producing machine that he used in teacher-led, student assisted demonstrations in order to reinforce concepts learned during a unit on weather. The machine, or simulator, was powered by a hair dryer, fan, and cool-mist humidifier. The machine consists of a demonstration table containing a plenum box,…

This paper deals with the design process of a remote laboratory for labwork in chemistry. In particular, it focuses on the mutual dependency of theoretical conjectures about learning in the experimental sciences and technological opportunities in creating learning environments. The design process involves a detailed analysis of the expert task and…

An enzyme exercise to address the problem of students inability to visualize chemical reaction at the molecular level is described. This exercise is designed as a dry lab exercise but can be modified into a classroom activity then can be augmented by a wet lab procedure, thereby providing students with a practical exposure to enzyme function.

The use of a network-ready color camera is described which is primarily marketed as a security device and is used for experiments in developmental biology, genetics and biochemistry laboratories and in special student research projects. Acquiring and analyzing project and archiving images is very important in microscopy, electrophoresis and…

A version of the classic gas phase infrared experiment was developed for students at Arkansas State University based on the shortcomings of the rotationally resolved infrared experiment. Chem Spec II is a noncommercial Windows-based software package developed to aid in the potentially complicated problem of assigning quantum numbers to observed…

Interviews university students in modern physics about their understanding of three fundamental experiments. Explores their development of models of microscopic processes. Uses interactive demonstrations to probe student understanding of modern physics experiments in two high school physics classes. Analyzes the nature of students' models and the…

Start at the end; that's the way to improve children's plans for investigations. Strange as it may seem, there are times when beginning at the beginning of an investigation is not the best way to start things off. To give children the opportunity to ask questions and plan what to do, sometimes it is best to get them first to consider others' data…

Violins, earthquakes, and the "singing rod" demonstration all have something in common--stick-slip frictional motion. The application of stick-slip friction can be extended to a ringing wineglass, exotic percussion instruments, car racing, and the latest research on the interplay between surfaces at the atomic level. These examples all involve two…

Cinemicrography--the capture of moving cellular sequences through the microscope--has been influential in revealing the dynamic nature of cellular behavior. One of the more dramatic cellular events is mitosis, the division of sister chromatids into two daughter cells. Mitosis has been extensively studied in a variety of organisms, both…

Olfactory discrimination (OD) learning consists of two phases: an initial N-methyl-d-aspartate (NMDA) receptor--sensitive rule-learning phase, followed by an NMDA receptor (NMDAR)--insensitive pair-learning phase. The rule-learning phase is accompanied by changes in the composition and function of NMDARs at synapses in the piriform cortex,…

Laboratory components of introductory biology college-level courses are becoming increasingly rare. Due to the absence of laboratory funding and time, instructors at all levels are faced with the problem of implementing inquiry-based projects. In this article, the authors present an activity that they developed for the 50-minute discussion period…

Old bones are often discolored by the grime that infiltrates spaces in the matrix once occupied by blood vessels. This suggested that allowing dry bone to absorb colorants might be a useful way to show the three dimensional complexity of bone vascularization. The authors have developed a simple way to show blood vessels spaces in bone at a glance…

This article describes an experiment, designed by Cindy Henk, manager of the Socolofsky Microscopy Center at Louisiana State University (LSU), that involved collecting and viewing microorganisms in the air-water interface. The experiment was participated by Leesville High School microbiology students. The students found that the air-water…