Teaching environments are provided by symbolic mathematics templates to promote development of HOCS (Higher Orders Cognitive Skills). The way of looking LOCS and HOCS is to distinguish them by recognizing that the LOCS corresponds to complex correct thinking and the HOCS form the essence of full critical thinking.

An HPLC and a UV-visible spectrophotometer are identified as instruments that helps to incorporate more biologically-relevant experiments into the course, in order to increase the students understanding of selected biochemistry topics and enhances their ability to apply an analytical approach to biochemical problems. The experiment teaches…

The objective of the James L. Waters Annual Symposium is to recognize pioneers in the development of instrumentation by preserving the early history of the cooperation and important contributions of inventors, scientists, engineers, entrepreneurs, and marketing organizations. The symposium was held in Pittsburgh, United States in March 2002 to…

A study of the development of commercial electron spectroscopy of chemical analysis (ESCA) instrumentation over a span of three decades is presented. The field has also been extended significantly by use of synchrotron radiation as a bright X-ray source, which has opened new areas of research in solid-state physics, molecular biology, and many…

A survey of progress made over the past ~30 years (1970 - 2004) to improve the reliability of surface analyses by XPS is presented. The basic principles of XPS are very simple yet there is considerable complexity in designing experiments, interpreting data, and analyzing the results for the many different modes of operation and many different…

The development of XPS as an effective method for surface analysis during the period 1964-1977 is presented. The study shows that unlike other surface methods, XPS data can be obtained for both conductors and insulators and a variety of samples can be handled effectively, which is one of the major reasons for the popularity of the technique.

A unifying modular approach to the description of modern instrumentation used in analytical measurements is described. Through the identification of five modules for analytical instrument, discussions pertaining to the different physical and chemical interactions can be better directed towards the similarities and differences in the actual methods.

A survey of introductory textbooks shows that many authors fail to connect explicitly their discussions of empirical versus molecular formulas with their latter discussions of the composition and structure of nonmolecular solids. A study proposes that some method, such as the use of quotation marks, be adopted to differentiate unambiguously…

The use of weekly peer-evaluated poster sessions as a method for evaluating laboratory work in a general chemistry lab is reported. Findings show that the posters appear to have helped the students better understand how to display information concisely.

The feasibility of the laboratory production of copper metal from a readily available, naturally occurring mineral malachite utilizing techniques that are consistent with the time period of around 4000 B.C.E. is presented. The starting materials are inexpensive and convenient and the procedure involves no hazardous reagents and produces no…

Students of an Applied Chemistry degree course carried out a fire-assay exercise. The analysis showed that the technique was a worthwhile quantitative analytical technique and covered interesting theory including acid-base and redox chemistry and other concepts such as inquarting and cupelling.

Capillary electrophoresis is gradually working its way into the undergraduate laboratory curriculum. Typically, experiments utilizing this newer technology have been introduced into analytical or instrumental courses. The authors of this article have introduced an experiment into the introductory laboratory that utilizes capillary electrophoresis…

A laser spectrometer for the ethylenediaminetetra-acetic acid (EDTA) titration of magnesium or calcium ions that is designed around a handheld laser pointer as the source and a photoresistor as the detector is developed. Findings show that the use of the spectrometer reduces the degree of uncertainty and error in one part of the EDTA titrations,…

Photophysical and photochemical properties of semiconductor metal oxide colloids are studied in the context of photoelectrochemical conversion and storage of solar energy. The experiment teaches the instrumental principles of UV-visible spectrophotometry, spectral acquisition and background subtraction strategies and diode array spectrometers.

A mixture of potassium hydroxide and alpha-naphthaldehyde (1) are heated under solvent-free conditions to produce 1-naphthoic acid (2) and 1-naphthalenemethanol (3). The experiment offers several advantages over many existing exercises including the ease of reaction workup, shorter reaction time, relative environmental friendliness of the…