A successful laboratory experience provides the foundation for student success, creating active participation in the learning process. Here, we describe a new approach that emphasizes research, inquiry and problem solving in a year-long biochemistry experience. The first semester centers on the purification, characterization, and analysis of a…

This study reports the effects of different types of instructional preparation strategies on the problem solving performance of college students taking an introductory physics class. Students were divided into four equally skilled groups and solved the same physics problems after receiving different instructional preparations (engaging in…

There is ample evidence that Confucianism is undergoing a multi-faceted revival in contemporary China. This can be seen in government slogans, in a runaway best seller on the "Analects" (the compendium of Confucius's teachings), in educational experiments, and in academic activities. The twentieth century was a bad century for…

It is claimed by the company NitroFill and the GetNitrogen Institute that filling car tires with nitrogen improves gas mileage considerably. The reason given is that oxygen leaks out of tires so that the increased rolling friction causes a reduced gas mileage. Because it is hard to do an actual road test, we report on a simple visual test of…

This study examines the process by which a teacher may be able to answer a question asked in the classroom by using a scientific approach and a simple activity. This article examines a discussion of the question "Is space light or dark?" Priority in the discussion has been given to determining students' preconceptions about the interaction of…

Cognition is a general term describing the mental capacities of an animal, and often includes the ability to categorize, remember, and communicate about objects in the environment. Numerous regions of the telencephalon (cerebral cortex and limbic system) are responsible for these cognitive functions. Although many researchers have used traditional…

This article presents our experience on teaching biochemical sciences through an innovative approach that integrates concepts of molecular cell biology and protein chemistry. This original laboratory exercise is based on the preparation of an affinity chromatography column containing F-actin molecules immobilized on chitin particles for purifying…

This paper describes a simple, rapid and low-cost technique for growing bacteria (or other microbes) in an environmental gradient, in order to determine the tolerance of the microbial population to varying concentrations of sodium chloride ions, and suggests how the evolutionary response of a microbial population to the selection pressure of the…

Chromosomal aneuploidy, a deviation from an exact multiple of an organism's haploid chromosome number, is a difficult concept for students to master. Aneuploidy arising from chromosomal non-disjunction (NDJ) is particularly problematic for students, since it arises in the context of meiosis, itself a challenging subject. Students learning NDJ are…

Water is the ideal green solvent for organic reactions. However, most organic molecules are insoluble in it. Herein, we report a laboratory module that takes advantage of this property. The Passerini reaction, a three-component coupling involving an isocyanide, aldehyde, and carboxylic acid, typically requires [similar to] 24 h reaction times in…

The author describes a protocol for classroom experiments for courses that introduce undergraduates to signaling games. Signaling games are conceptually difficult because, when analyzing the game, students are not naturally inclined to think in probabilistic, Bayesian terms. The experimental design explicitly presents the posterior frequencies of…

The instructional design and the corresponding research on student learning of two virtual laboratories that provide an engineering task situated in an industrial context are described. In this problem-based learning environment, data are generated dynamically based on each student team's distinct choices of reactor parameters and measurements.…

This paper is intended for engineering educators, high school curriculum designers, and high school teachers interested in integrating authentic, project-based learning experiences into their classes. These types of projects may appear complex, but have many advantages. We characterize the successful implementation of one such project, the…

A series of online interactive teaching units have been developed that illustrate the use of experimentally measured three-dimensional (3D) structures to teach fundamental chemistry concepts. The units integrate a 500-structure subset of the Cambridge Structural Database specially chosen for their pedagogical value. The units span a number of key…

In two experiments we examined how children's nonword pronunciations are influenced by learning words. In Experiment 1, children pronounced nonwords before and after learning words sharing orthographic rimes with the nonwords. These rimes varied in spelling-to-sound consistency and regularity. Children's nonword pronunciations were more sensitive…