A research writing course was developed to prepare chemistry majors to conduct and report on their capstone research projects. The course guides students through a multistep process of preparing a literature review and research proposal. Students learn how to identify and avoid plagiarism, critically read and summarize a scientific article,…

Research mentors can play an active role in helping their students develop oral communication skills by implementing formative assessment activities in their group meetings. A rubric can be used as a formative assessment tool that helps a student understand the achievement target they are working toward, where they are relative to the achievement…

Science dissemination or popularization of science refers to the act of facilitating the understanding of research and works of scientific and/or technological origin among the general public. Science dissemination is a relevant issue in the realm of public policy. Considering that in Brazil, the university is responsible for most of the…

There have been multiple calls to incorporate the teaching of scientific practices within science laboratory courses over the past decade. To accomplish this goal, changes must be made to the curriculum standards, instructional programs, and assessment-evaluation systems used in laboratory courses. One instructional program that can used in a…

All students pursuing STEM careers need to be adept at interpreting and evaluating primary research literature. The complexity of research articles requires significant practice and training in order to become skilled and efficient at this process. Thus, an early start in undergraduate education is essential and allows for development and practice…

Incorporating research activities at the secondary-school level is an effective method to teach science; however, students and teachers may feel intimidated when trying to identify a suitable research topic. Ideas may be obtained from short articles in periodicals or newspapers to allow students to design their own experiments and interpret data.…

Curriculum-embedded undergraduate research experiences (CUREs) have the unique advantage that "all" students enrolled in a course engage in authentic scientific research. While CUREs guided by faculty research interests are common, this article describes CUREs embedded in the senior chemistry curriculum that were driven entirely by…

Many chemistry laboratory exercises follow a given protocol with known results. Such traditional laboratories rarely give students an accurate representation of how research is conducted, the scientific practices involved in research, and the ownership that accompanies developing and carrying out an independent project. Several laboratory reforms…

Ethics is an important part of science and is often omitted from a packed undergraduate curriculum. This article describes a second-year seminar course developed for chemistry majors that focuses on career preparation and the improvement of essential student skills, such as communication skills and preparation for independent research. The central…

Through the reading, study, and performance of "Copenhagen", a play by Michael Frayn, chemistry students see the application of nuclear chemistry content, acquire a better understanding of the continuum from scientific research to technology design, and also become aware of the many and varied interrelationships of science with history…

Students were asked to each create an infographic on the basis of one of their host department's research articles as a new exercise within the "science communication" training program of the University of Leicester's undergraduate chemistry degree. The use of local articles helped to connect students to the research of their lecturers,…

Thomas Graham discovered the law that bears his name while studying gas diffusion into air and other gases. He also found that the same relationship held with gas effusion, the movement of gases through a pinhole into a vacuum. Modern understanding of diffusion and effusion is based on kinetic-molecular theory, and it is generally accepted that…

The students are now given pre-screened articles related to the classroom topic, which demonstrates the relevance of scientific literature to them. The approach helps in strengthening the reading and writing skills of the students.

A survey was conducted among second-year students in organic chemistry (OC) lab and first-year students in English composition (EC) to determine whether an interdisciplinary exchange and review of articles would improve students' understanding of the process of scientific research and of writing within the field of chemistry. The primary…

This perspective paper analyses the possibilities and challenges of using cheminformatics as a context for STEM education. The objective is to produce theoretical insights through a SWOT analysis of an authentic educational cheminformatics project where future chemistry teachers engineered a physical 3D model using cheminformatics software and a…