A great deal has long been known about student difficulties connecting real-world experiences with what they are learning in their physics classes, making learning basic ideas of classical physics challenging. Understanding these difficulties has led to the development of many instructional approaches that have been shown to help students make…

This article discusses seven chiral odorants that demonstrate the enantioselectivity of odor sensation: carvone, Celery Ketone, camphor, Florhydral, 3-methyl-3-sulfanylhexan-1-ol, muscone, and methyl jasmonate. After a general introduction of the odorant-receptor interaction and the combinatorial code of olfaction, the olfactory properties of the…

The design and implementation of an advanced guided-inquiry experiment for the organic laboratory is described. Grubbs's second-generation catalyst is used to effect the ring-closing metathesis of diethyl diallylmalonate. The reaction is carried out under an inert atmosphere at room temperature and monitored by argentic TLC. The crude reaction is…

The rapid compression or expansion of a gas in a plastic syringe is a poor approximation of an adiabatic process. Heat exchange with the walls of the syringe brings the gas to equilibrium in an amount of time that is not significantly greater than the length of the compression or expansion itself. Despite this limitation, it is still possible to…

In November 2009, the largest experiment in history was restarted. Its prime target is the Higgs particle--the last remaining undiscovered piece of our current theory of matter. We present a very simple way to introduce this topic to senior secondary school students, using a comparison with the refractive index of light.

In delivering chemistry courses by distance, a key challenge is to offer the learner an authentic and meaningful laboratory experience that still provides the rigour required to continue on in science. To satisfy this need, two distance general chemistry laboratory courses appropriate for Bachelor of Science (B.Sc.) students, including chemistry…

The tendency of fluids to follow, in certain conditions, curved profiles is often referred to as the Coanda effect. A simple experiment modeling the common teapot effect, the curling of the liquid around the beak when it is poured, can be used in the classroom to illustrate simple dynamic principles and basic fluid dynamics concepts as well.

A substantial number of upper-level science students and practicing physical science teachers demonstrate confusion about thermal equilibrium, heat transfer, heat capacity, and specific heat capacity. The traditional method of instruction, which involves learning the related definitions and equations, using equations to solve heat transfer…

Liquid-vapor, solid-vapor, and solid-liquid-vapor equilibria are studied for the pure substance water, using modern equipment that includes specially fabricated glass cells. Samples are evaporatively frozen initially, during which they typically supercool to -5 to -10 [degrees]C before spontaneously freezing. Vacuum pumping lowers the temperature…

"Science Friday's" motto "Making Science User-Friendly" was the authors' inspiration, as was its format for a segment on the morning broadcast at Forest View Elementary School. Patterned after National Public Radio's "Science Friday," this special feature was designed to provide an opportunity for budding scientists to communicate their…

The University of Colorado's Physics Education Technology (PhET) website offers free, high-quality simulations of many physics experiments that can be used in the classroom. The Circuit Construction Kit, for example, allows students to safely and constructively play with circuit components while learning the mathematics behind many circuit…

Nowadays, outreach labs are important informal learning environments in science education. After summarizing research to goals outreach labs focus on, we describe our evidence-based gene technology lab as a model of a research-driven outreach program. Evaluation-based optimizations of hands-on teaching based on cognitive load theory (additional…

One of the greatest challenges in teaching physics is helping students achieve a conceptual understanding of Newton's laws. I find that students fresh from middle school can sometimes recite the laws verbatim ("An object in motion stays in motion..." and "For every action..."), but they rarely demonstrate a working knowledge of…

This study aims to reveal to what extent Turkish chemistry teachers use laboratories effectively and their perceptions on laboratory applications and the factors related to laboratory applications. In this cross-sectional survey, 408 chemistry teachers from the secondary schools in Izmir were given "Teacher Demographic form", "The…

It is possible for a relatively small force, applied to one end of a rope, to support a much larger force if the rope is merely wrapped a few times around a post. This setup, called a "capstan", has been discussed in a number of papers in this journal and elsewhere. If we wrap a cord around a rough curved surface, T[subscript 1] and T[subscript 2]…