Some misconceptions about physics are hard to change. For example, students continue to believe that heavier objects fall faster than light ones, even after a year of physics instruction. Physics misconceptions are persistent. Light objects do fall more slowly if their size-to-weight ratio is sufficient for drag to be appreciable. Motion through a…

Food spoilage has an enormous economic impact, and microbial food spoilage plays a significant role in food waste and loss; subsequently, an equally significant portion of undergraduate food microbiology instruction should be dedicated to spoilage microbiology. Here, we describe a set of undergraduate microbiology laboratory exercises that focus…

A laboratory project for the upper-division physical chemistry laboratory is described, and it combines IR and Raman spectroscopies with Gaussian electronic structure calculations to determine the structure of the oxalate anion in solid alkali oxalates and in aqueous solution. The oxalate anion has two limiting structures whose vibrational spectra…

A differential scanning calorimeter was used to study homogeneous nucleation of ice from micron-sized aqueous ammonium sulfate aerosol particles. It is important to understand the conditions at which these particles nucleate ice because of their connection to cirrus cloud formation. Additionally, the concept of freezing point depression, a topic…

Gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) and GC-tandem MS (GC-MS/MS) are useful in many separation and characterization procedures. GC-MS is now a common tool in industry and research, and increasingly, GC-MS/MS is applied to the measurement of trace components in complex mixtures. This report describes an upper-level undergraduate experiment…

A laboratory experiment visually exploring two opposite basic principles of fluorescence of aggregation-caused quenching (ACQ) and aggregation-induced emission (AIE) is demonstrated. The students would prepared two salicylaldehyde-based Schiff bases through a simple one-pot condensation reaction of one equiv of 1,2-diamine with 2 equiv of…

Electrically conducting polymers are one of the promising alternative materials for technological applications in many interdisciplinary areas, including chemistry, material sciences, and engineering. This experiment was designed for providing undergraduate students with a quick and practical approach for preparation of a polyaniline-conducting…

In order to introduce the concepts of biocatalysis and its utility in synthesis to organic chemistry students, a multistep synthesis of endogenous cannabinergic ligand 2-arachidonoylglycerol (2-AG) was tailored for use as a laboratory exercise. Over four weeks, students successfully produced 2-AG, purifying and characterizing products at each…

As nonrenewable resources deplete and educators seek relevant interdisciplinary content for organic chemistry instruction, biobased laboratory experiments present themselves as potential alternatives to petroleum-based transformations, which offer themselves as sustainable variations on important themes. Following the principles of green chemistry…

In this work, a laboratory experiment to introduce graduate students to nanotechnology is described. Students prepared poly(lactic-"co"-glycolic acid) (PLGA) nanoparticles using two different synthesis procedures, a single and a double emulsion-solvent evaporation method. The students also performed a physicochemical characterization of…

Students in the undergraduate "transport phenomena" courses typically have a greater difficulty in understanding the theoretical concepts underlying the mass transport phenomena as compared to the concepts of momentum and energy transport. An experiment based on dissolution of carbon dioxide in water was added to the course syllabus to…

The development, testing, and classroom implementation of a low-cost, reproducible, desktop sized, highly visual double-pipe heat exchanger are presented. Quantitative measurements with the module reveal its usefulness for demonstrating basic and advanced convective heat transfer theory while worksheet-guided inquiries promote student engagement.…

In 2019 and 2020, third-year chemical engineering majors completed a concept inventory at the beginning and end of the semester in their thermodynamics course. Midway through spring semester of 2020, the course switched to emergency remote instruction, replacing hands-on inquiry-based laboratory activities (IBLAs) with short videos. Analysis of…

Science is the study of the world around us, and a scientist's job is to ask questions about the world and then experiment to find the answers. There is not a more natural scientist than the Elementary child, whose reasoning mind is eager to ask questions, investigate, and discuss and compare findings with their peers. In this article, the authors…

The paper describes active learning strategies used in undergraduate college algebra and business calculus courses. There are a variety of active learning strategies described in the literature. We wanted to implement a few that together, satisfy the key characteristics of active learning strategies. The active learning strategies described in…