Faculty in the Department of Chemistry and Physics at the University of New England (UNE) have recently transformed introductory and advanced chemistry curricula by embedding the high impact practice of undergraduate research. Course Based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) have provided experiential learning opportunities for over 272…

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, education at all levels has temporarily shifted to remote learning, hobbling an integral component of chemistry courses: the laboratory. The chemistry lab is crucial for developing student engagement and learning with hands-on, relevant experiments in a socially dynamic classroom setting. The transition to remote…

Described is the creation, deployment, and evaluation of a video produced about the synthesis and applications of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs). The goal of this project was to gauge the impact of viewing the video on high school students' conceptions of authentic chemistry practices and applications. Additionally, comparisons were made between…

Innovative instructional technologies, especially virtual reality devices, are becoming more prominent and feasible in science education. Concerning science laboratories, activities enriched with virtual reality technology have the potential to make unobservable phenomena accessible in any school. This virtual reality technology has the potential…

This work describes a simple talking calorimeter for the visually impaired based on the Arduino Uno without any shield. An electronic interface was designed using a Wheatstone bridge, a thermistor, or an operational amplifier (opamp). The temperature values are communicated by a loudspeaker connected to pulse-width modulation (PWM) digital output…

Practical activities are the main activities of learning biology whose implementation is rarely evaluated. This study aimed to determine the quality of biology practicum which includes planning and implementation of biology practicum and student learning outcomes thereafter. The population in this study was students, teachers and and laboratory…

We present our experience with transferring a four-day photometry and dye-adsorption laboratory experiment to the kitchens of students of Applied Thermodynamics from our degree in "Industrial Chemical Process Engineering". The students designed and built a double-beam photometer using their smartphones and household materials, then…

An organic solar cell fabrication kit has been developed for demonstration in both undergraduate teaching classes and high school laboratories to promote the growing field of renewable energy and to facilitate empirical comprehension of solar technology. The laboratory focuses on fabricating organic photovoltaics (solar cells) and testing the…

In 2013 and 2014, over 50% (728 out of 1336 and 778 out of 1491) of candidates enrolled in constituency development fund (CDF) built secondary schools in Rachuonyo South sub-County got E to D grades which are below the acceptable minimum quality grade of C+ that enables candidates pursue competitive courses at tertiary and university levels. It is…

The commercialization of virtual reality (VR) hardware has enabled the use of VR as an educational tool. We describe how a VR platform was used to create molecular visualizations using standard PDB files with the purpose of delivering biochemistry and cellular biology lessons for undergraduates. Specifically, we describe two new software modules,…

The purpose of the current study is to design and develop a sample Mobile Augmented Reality (MAR) application addressing the anatomic structure of the heart in a way suitable for laboratory learning for pre-service science teachers to achieve learning by constructing information in biology instruction. The implementation of the MAR design activity…

Harmful plastic debris found on beaches and in the oceans are not limited to drinking straws or bags. There are several synthetic organic polymers that can be used to make different kinds of plastic materials and have resulted in billions of tons of waste that can reach the aquatic biome and are harmful to freshwater and marine communities as well…

A semester-long research project for second-semester organic chemistry lab sections was developed. Student projects were based on preliminary data from faculty research that suggested the natural product neurolenin B to be a treatment for lymphatic filariasis. Students isolated neurolenins from the Central American plant "Neurolaena…

Previous work at Monash University has shown that students recognise that inquiry-, problem-, context- and industry-based experiments were better contextualised, more open to decision making and aided in the development of scientific and transferable skills. This study investigated whether these gains persisted over a longer time scale, rather…

Techniques are needed to train students in "writing to learn", whose main goal is to "learn to write". This work aims to exemplify how writing can be a teaching learning technique in an example in Chemistry to develop a correct understanding of the preparation of molar solutions in the laboratory. It is essential that this is…