The comprehension of the reactivity of the elements is an important goal to be achieved in undergraduate courses in inorganic chemistry. Therefore, at Universidade Federal de São Carlos (UFSCar), the B.Sc. in chemistry has a laboratory course dedicated to the chemistry of the elements. However, we have noticed a decrease in students' interest in…

Fisheries scientists make sure that fish populations ("fisheries") are managed properly, neither over- or under-utilized, to maintain long-term economic and ecological stability. Scientists collect data and conduct surveys to determine fish populations, and then make recommendations about how many fish may be caught by commercial and…

A physics laboratory instructor used action research to effectively implement a 5E instructional approach, which incorporated scientific practices. The instructor explored how to integrate the instructional approach into practice, challenges present in the implementation, and students' learning experiences. The data were collected during three…

Authenticity is a term that has become ubiquitous within the field of science education, particularly when it relates to the practices of science. These practices are a key feature of science education reform documents in the US. However, a common definition of just what makes for the authentic doing of science is hard to come by and certainly…

This study investigated the effects of Discovery Learning Scientific Community Laboratories (DL-SCL) and traditional non-DLSCL laboratories on students' conceptual understanding in a Physics-1 lab. At many universities, physics programs use a traditional lab style, despite research on the benefits for reform-oriented physics labs. This DL-SCL…

Undergraduate physics laboratory course structures have been identified in policy reports for novel design innovations to meet the needs of a diverse and growing student population. To this end, an online, hands-on laboratory option was implemented at a large, public university for introductory physics students using the iOLab device. To determine…

The COVID-19 pandemic has focused attention to online delivery of teaching and assessment within the higher education sector. This article will reflect on the laboratory assessment of chemistry to undergraduate students on a pharmaceutical science program in the UK. With students prohibited from accessing laboratory environments, associated…

Abrupt disruptions to academia, due to the COVID-19 pandemic in Spring 2020, have brought unprecedented challenges in teaching, yet it has brought many lessons, driving the development of strategies in response to the crisis. The general chemistry laboratory course is often considered difficult to teach, due to students' heterogeneous chemistry…

While project laboratories have become a staple in analytical chemistry courses, Coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) has forced many universities to adopt an online instruction model, which raises challenges in creating quality content that matches the learning objectives of the course. Here we describe the transition of an inquiry-based project lab from…

As the need for online or virtual science courses grows, it is important to incorporate laboratory work into these courses. However, it is difficult to find cost-effective ways to integrate the laboratory work, especially as campuses across the world have had to quickly transition to the online learning environment in the midst of the COVID-19…

Eukaryotic parasites represent a serious human health threat requiring health professionals with parasitology skills to counteract this threat. However, recent surveys highlight an erosion of teaching of parasitology in medical and veterinary schools, despite reports of increasing instances of food and waterborne parasitic infections. To address…

To become scientifically literate, students must learn to proficiently utilise and fluently integrate a suite of specialised and contextualised multimodal literacy practices. While the frequency of explicit reading and writing instruction in the sciences is increasing, the wider range of multimodal practices are often not adequately addressed. We…

We present an experiment designed to hone the decision-making skills of (undergraduate) chemistry students by using aqueous crossed aldol reactions. Here, we present two simple crossed aldol reactions based on inexpensive and readily available materials: The condensation of vanillin and cinnamaldehyde with acetone. The procedure uses the variation…

The topic of electric and magnetic fields is fundamental to the physics curriculum in both high school and college. The applied aspect of this topic has triggered the rapid development of modern technology in this era. This paper reported a remote data acquisition system developed for experiments with magnetic fields by coils to support…

The increasing integration of software and automation in modern chemical laboratories prompts special emphasis on two important skills in the chemistry classroom. First, students need to learn the technical skills involved in modern scientific computing and automation. Second, applying these techniques in practice requires effective collaboration…