This article describes an innovative neuropsychopharmacology laboratory that can be incorporated into any research methods class. The lab consists of a set of interconnected modules centered on observations of methamphetamine-induced behavioral changes in mice and is designed to provide students with an opportunity to acquire basic skills…

Science education reform documents identify nature of science (NOS) as a critical component of scientific literacy and call for universities, colleges, and K-12 schools to explicitly integrate NOS learning into science curricula. In response to these calls, this study investigated the classroom practices of nine graduate assistants (GAs) who…

Studies that incorporate technologies into school science laboratories have proliferated in the recent two decades. A total of 42 studies published from 1990 to 2011 that incorporated technologies to support school science laboratories are reviewed here. Simulations, microcomputer-based laboratories (MBLs), and virtual laboratories are commonly…

This dissertation presents the results of an experiment that measured the learning outcomes associated with three different pedagogical approaches to introductory physics labs. These three pedagogical approaches presented students with the same apparatus and covered the same physics content, but used different lab manuals to guide students through…

In general, laboratories are exercises with a primary focus on the verification of established laws and principles, or on the discovery of objectively knowable facts. In laboratories, students gather data without comprehending the meaning of their actions. The cognitive demand of laboratory tasks is reduced to a minimal level. To prevent these…

We developed an educational path based on nitinol, a shape memory alloy which conveniently exemplifies the smart material concept, i.e., a material that performs a predetermined, reversible action in response to a change in the environment. Nitinol recovers a given shape, changes its resistivity drastically and modifies its elastic properties if…

Cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS) has emerged as a practical method for producing a broad variety of proteins. In addition, the direct accessibility to the reaction environment makes CFPS particularly suitable as a learning vehicle for fundamental biological concepts. Here, we describe its implementation as a teaching tool for a high school…

This study examined how students' science-specific argumentative writing skills and understanding of core ideas changed over the course of a school year as they participated in a series of science laboratories designed using the Argument-Driven Inquiry (ADI) instructional model. The ADI model is a student-centered and writing-intensive approach to…

The activities described here allow students to explore the concept of diffusion with the use of common equipment such as computers, webcams and analysis software. The procedure includes taking a series of digital pictures of a container of water with a webcam as a dye slowly diffuses. At known time points, measurements of the pixel densities…

The ability of developing countries to provide a sound tertiary chemical education is a key ingredient to the improvement of living standards and economic development within these countries. However, teaching undergraduate experimental chemistry and building research capacity in institutions based within these countries involves formidable…

The central goal of this exploratory study was to characterize the effects of experiments involving different levels of inquiry on the nature of college students' written reflections about laboratory work. Data were collected in the form of individual lab reports written using a science writing heuristic template by a subset of the students…

An educational experiment illustrates the electrolysis of water and copper chloride to middle school science students. The electrolysis cell is composed of filter paper soaked with Na[subscript 2]SO[subscript 4] or CuCl[subscript 2] aqueous solution sandwiched, along with a sheet of platinum foil, between two coin-type lithium batteries. When the…

In this laboratory exercise, students develop a LabVIEW-controlled high-performance liquid chromatography system utilizing a data acquisition device, two pumps, a detector, and fraction collector. The programming experience involves a variety of methods for interface communication, including serial control, analog-to-digital conversion, and…

A new green oxidation procedure was developed for the undergraduate organic teaching laboratories using Oxone and a catalytic quantity of sodium chloride for the conversion of borneol to camphor. This simple 1 h, room temperature reaction afforded high quality and yield of product, was environmentally friendly, and produced negligible quantities…

Understanding stereochemistry is an important and difficult task for students to master in organic chemistry. In both introductory and advanced courses, students are encouraged to explore the spatial relationships between molecules, but this exploration is often limited either to the lecture hall or the confines of the library. As such, we sought…