When students understand content deeply, they recognize main concepts and understand the relationships among ideas. But the typical processes students use to study are generally not designed to generate conceptual understandings. Instead, they tend to become passive learners. In this article, the authors present three commonly used classroom…

This article describes the rapid, green synthesis of a biaryl compound (4-phenylphenol) via a Pd(0)-catalyzed Suzuki cross-coupling reaction in water. Mild reaction conditions and operational simplicity makes this experiment especially amenable to both mid- and upper-level undergraduates. The methodology exposes students to purely aqueous…

This laboratory project is one component of a semester-long advanced biochemistry laboratory course that uses several complementary techniques to study tRNA[superscript Phe] conformational changes induced by ligand binding. In this article we describe a set of experiments in which the thermal unfolding of tRNA[superscript Phe] is studied with…

While most prepared exercises for ethics in science programs--including an excellent AAAS video series--present a complete account of the relevant facts, a role-playing exercise is described here in which the participants are provided with differing reports of events. The exercise is based on a true case involving a student who was convicted of…

Hands-on biological exploration has been shown to have a great impact on learning. When students "do" something, they remember more details than when they sit through a lecture describing the same activity. In this article, the authors present an exercise that has the potential to get all levels of students into the lab for practical experience…

Within the framework of a laboratory-focused, guided-inquiry pedagogy, students discover the Nernst equation, the spontaneity of galvanic cells, concentration cells, and the use of electrochemical data to calculate equilibrium constants. The laboratory experiment we describe here is a continuation of curriculum reform and pedagogical innovation at…

Switzerland is the land of Big Ideas, where even the streets have Nobel prizes. At the European particle physics lab known as CERN, the roads through campus bear the names of Einstein, Curie, Bohr, and Heisenberg. Working amid those tributes to giants of the past century, physicists from around the world are trying to make history of their own and…

In this study, the author examined how attendance in the lab is associated with students' lab grades and overall course grades in an introductory biology course. Results from this study indicate that academic motivation, as expressed by high rates of class attendance, is critical to students' success in introductory science courses. The highest…

While astrophysics is a fascinating subject, it hardly lends itself to laboratory experiences accessible to undergraduate students. In this paper, we describe a feasible astrophysical laboratory experience in which the students are guided to take several stellar spectra, using a telescope, a spectrograph and a CCD camera, and perform a full data…

A simple model of the random Brownian walk of a spherical mesoscopic particle in viscous liquids is proposed. The model can be solved analytically and simulated numerically. The analytic solution gives the known Einstein-Smoluchowski diffusion law r[superscript 2] = 2Dt, where the diffusion constant D is expressed by the mass and geometry of a…

This project is conducted by students during the second semester of their second year in our educational institution. This project constitutes an initiation into research and allows a broadening of knowledge, a development in autonomy, organization, team work, and initiative. It helps prepare the student-engineer for an internship in industry. The…

X-ray fluorescence is a non-destructive technique that allows elemental composition analysis. In this paper we describe a prescription to obtain the elemental composition of homogeneous coins, like 50 cent Euro coins, and how to get the quantitative proportions of each element with the help of Monte Carlo simulation. Undergraduate students can…

This paper evaluates the accessibility of selected field and laboratory high school science activities, and provides suggestions for increasing accessibility for students with disabilities. We focused on GLOBE (Global Learning Observations to Benefit the Environment) protocols, specifically the new Seasons and Biomes investigation currently being…

The purpose of this study is to determine pre-service teachers' attitudes toward use of Vee diagrams in general physics laboratory. The sample of the study consists of 29 (16 girls and 13 boys) freshmen students enrolling to elementary school science education program at one of the universities in Turkey. To gather the data of the study…

The Internet provides an opportunity for students to access laboratories from outside the campus. This paper presents a Web-based remote access real-time laboratory using SCADA (supervisory control and data acquisition) control. The control of an induction motor is used as an example to demonstrate the effectiveness of this remote laboratory,…