The measurement of the infrared rotation-vibration spectrum of HCl(g) is a common experiment in the physical chemistry laboratory, which allows students the opportunity to explore quantization of rotational states in diatomic molecules. It is found that the CO2 vibration-rotation spectrum if used as an addition to the HCl experiment would give the…

A wonderful way to engage science students is to make them think a demonstration is not turning out the way the instructor intended. Basically, throw a little humor into teaching, and they will be hooked. Described in this article is a demonstration that uses Milk of Magnesia (MOM) as a visual and humorous method to review equilibrium chemistry…

A group of five graduate students and a faculty mentor used the cultural popularity of forensics to develop a first-year undergraduate seminar. This course fulfilled two main objectives: First, the graduate student instructors developed professionally through a two-year process of creating, instructing, and revising a course. Second, a variety of…

Ping-Pong vacuum cannons, potato guns, and compressed air cannons are popular and dramatic demonstrations for lecture and lab. Students enjoy them for the spectacle, but they can also be used effectively to teach physics. Recently we have used a student-built compressed air cannon as a laboratory activity to investigate impulse, conservation of…

Notes how laboratory experiences can help elementary school social studies pupils understand concepts such as cultural awareness, career education, advertising techniques, map and globe skills, music, transportation, and landforms. For each concept, information is presented on objectives, activities within a laboratory setting, and evaluation…

Examines student attitudes towards biochemical experiments and their effect on student learning. Finds that biochemical experiments in the medical curriculum are valuable, but efforts should be directed more towards the development of students' attitudes and approaches to the exercise. (Author/CCM)

Explains the teaching opportunities, especially in science activities and laboratory experiments, of using technology in science classrooms. (YDS)

Presents a laboratory exercise designed to introduce students to the hemodynamic variables (heart rate, stroke volume, total peripheral resistance, and compliance) that alter arterial pressure. (Author/CCM)

Reports on a study of participation, achievement, and attitude in cookbook and inquiry-based introductory biology laboratories through observations, interviews, and attitude/knowledge surveys. Participation differences between men and women disappeared in the inquiry-based laboratory. (Author/MM)

We describe an undergraduate laboratory experiment that combines the advantages of problem-based learning with the need for biochemistry students to become proficient in practical laboratory skills. It also avoids the need to obtain ethical approval for recruiting volunteers and eliminates any possible biosafety issues with the handling and…

In this undergraduate biochemistry laboratory experiment, the vacuolar ATPase protein complex is purified from yeast cell extracts by doing immunoprecipitations under nondenaturing conditions. Immunoprecipitations are performed using monoclonal antibodies to facilitate data interpretation, and subunits are separated on the basis of their molecular…

An enzymatic laboratory experiment based on the analysis of serum is described that is suitable for students of clinical chemistry. The experiment incorporates an introduction to mathematical method-comparison techniques in which three different clinical glucose analysis methods are compared using linear regression and Bland-Altman difference…

In a 2003 issue of the "Journal of Chemical Education," Kniesel and Bellamy describe a timely and pedagogically effective experiment involving breath-alcohol analysis using an FTIR (Fourier Transform Infrared Spectroscopy) spectrometer. The present article clarifies some of the information presented in the 2003 article.