Charging and discharging processes of a capacitor through a resistor, as well as the concept of impedance in alternating current circuits, are topics covered in introductory physics courses. The experimental study of the charge and discharge of a capacitor through a resistor is a well-established lab exercise that is used to introduce concepts…

Laboratory experiments were developed to introduce students to the quantitation of drugs of abuse by high performance liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS). Undergraduate students were introduced to internal standard quantitation and the LC-MS/MS method optimization for cocaine. Cocaine extracted from paper currency was…

Materials are all around us and the importance of supporting children to understand the vast array of different types of materials is recognised at all key stages in the science National Curriculum for England. Ensuring that children connect concepts taught in key stages 1 and 2 (ages 5-11) is the starting point in helping children to comprehend…

Laboratory activity is closely related and yet is essential in the process of science teaching-learning. The hands-on laboratory experiment is the one normally used in school. Particularly with the state of online schooling, it is quite challenging to perform a hands-on laboratory activity. The combination of inquiry-based learning with virtual…

It never fails: you're in your office and the phone rings. Your department head says, "Hi! Fifty kids are coming to campus in 30 minutes. Can you meet with them and give them a one-hour hands-on activity that will make them excited about physics?" Likely you'll run to your demonstration room and grab anything that'll generate a bright…

Students often tend to compartmentalize material learned in school. While we see this phenomenon within our own classes, it is even more apparent that students have difficulty making connections between their math and physics courses. We believe that hands-on experiments are particularly useful in helping students make these connections. In this…

Bioinorganic topics are ubiquitous in the inorganic chemistry curriculum; however, experiments to enhance understanding of related topics are scarce. In this proposed laboratory, upper undergraduate students assess the biological interaction of molybdenocene dichloride (Cp2MoCl2) with bovine serum albumin (BSA) by fluorescence spectroscopy.…

We describe a hands-on accurate demonstrator for cosmic rays realized by six high school students. The main aim is to show the relevance and the functioning of the principal parts of a cosmic ray telescope (muon detector), with the help of two large sized wooden artefacts. The first one points out how cosmic rays can be tracked in a muon…

A highly controlled laboratory experiment was conducted that suggested computer-based image training of rock classifications can provide a useful supplement to physical rock training. Two groups of participants learned to classify samples of 12 major types of rocks during a training phase. One group was trained using computer images of the rock…

An integrated laboratory experiment applying concepts and techniques from organic chemistry, inorganic chemistry, and instrumental analysis is presented for use in the undergraduate curriculum. This experiment highlights the synthesis, characterization, and use of tris(2-pyridylmethyl)amine (TPMA) to make complexes with different metal salts. It…

Many types of batteries power an ever-growing number of devices. Electrochemical devices like batteries and fuel cells can, in principle, exceed Carnot efficiency for energy conversion. In this novel laboratory experiment, students explore the partitioning of the enthalpy change of a battery's electrochemical reaction between useful electrical…

Recent advances in spectroscopy and computational chemistry facilitate the introduction of current spectroscopic and computational methods at the undergraduate level. Students obtain and analyze experimental and calculated vibrational spectra (infrared and Raman) of a set of alkyne molecules to determine the role of symmetry with respect to gross…

Despite its advanced age of about 375 years, the mind--body (psychophysical) problem is alive and well, in part because it is anchored so well institutionally in schools and in research (scientific vs. interpretive psychology). This continued presence is astonishing in the light of the fact that the seed for its solution, sown in Spinoza's…

We have developed an integrated, project-oriented curriculum for undergraduate molecular biology and biochemistry laboratory courses spanning two semesters that is organized around the "ldhA" gene from the yogurt-fermenting bacterium "Lactobacillus bulgaricus," which encodes the enzyme d-lactate dehydrogenase. The molecular…

Perovskite solar cells have garnered exponential research interest due to their facile fabrication, solution processability, and low cost. However, there have been limited efforts to integrate this class of materials into the undergraduate laboratory curriculum. Therefore, we designed an integrated laboratory experiment in our upper-division…