The objective of this paper is to establish comparisons between the Linear Algebra (LA) approach practiced in Engineering courses offered by Chilean and Brazilian Higher Education Institutions and, for that, teachers from both countries were interviewed. From a methodological point of view, the research consists of two case studies. For the…

The Young's two-slits experiment is arguably one of the most famous and beautiful experiments in physics. In introductory physics labs the experiment is almost exclusively carried out using a laser, and it is introduced this way in some introductory physics textbooks. In the case of laser illumination, light passes directly through the slits and…

The mathematical form of the magnetic field due to a current loop, and the fact that it is identical to the electric field due to an electric dipole in the far field, are fundamental to our understanding of electromagnetism. While undergraduate level electromagnetism textbooks usually derive the electric field from an electric dipole, few derive…

To reduce the cost of educational materials needed by students, we generated a no-cost open educational resources (OER) textbook for an undergraduate level cell biology course. Cell biology is part of the curriculum in various undergraduate degrees for science, technology, engineering, and math majors, therefore generation of OER targets a large…

Concerns regarding students' difficulties with the concept of energy date back to the 1970s. They become particularly apparent for systems involving adenosine triphosphate (ATP), which plays a central role in maintaining the nonequilibrium state of biological systems and in driving energetically unfavorable processes. One of the most…

A challenge that exists in higher education is the lack of relatability between students and teachers. This disconnect likely prevents students from asking for help before, during, and/or after class. One way to increase relatability between students and teachers is by having a simple 5-minute conversation during an individual meeting, where I…

Previous educational articles on microfluidic technology mainly focused on continuous microfluidics, so we set up an undergraduate laboratory experiment to introduce droplet microfluidics to students. Students can understand the concept of microfluidic channels and the principles of droplet microfluidics, prepare polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)…

Heterocyclic compounds are an integral part of research, particularly in the pharmaceutical field. The synthesis of such compounds in an undergraduate laboratory can help students understand the relevance and importance of their field of study. Our experimental activity introduces a novel procedure to synthesize coumarin, a heterocyclic formed by…

The formation of chemical patterns is in general difficult to control due to the random diffusive motions of the reacting chemical species in solution. In this paper, we present a new method using audible sound to control the formation of chemical patterns obtained in blue bottle experiments. The waves generated on the surface of the solution by…

Nationally, as the chemical community aspires to become more diverse, it is essential to make students of all races, ethnicities, gender expressions, and physical abilities feel welcomed and represented in the introductory courses in the field. One way to accomplish this goal is to present examples of scientists who are not traditionally included…

As biological science rapidly generates new knowledge and novel approaches to address increasingly complex and integrative questions, biology educators face the challenge of teaching the next generation of biologists and citizens the skills and knowledge to enable them to keep pace with a dynamic field. Fundamentally, biology is the science of…

Background: It is well established in the literature that active learning instruction in introductory STEM courses results in many desired student outcomes. Yet, regular use of high-quality active learning is not the norm in many STEM departments. Using results of a national survey, we identified 16 departments where multiple instructors reported…

The curriculum for undergraduate Agricultural Engineering does not usually include much laboratory practice. In order to address this, here we propose the design of a practical class on legume-rhizobia symbiosis, using an interdisciplinary approach that takes elements from botany, agriculture, and microbiology. The students perform an assay to…

Acknowledgement of the limited learning outcomes in our first-year physics lab course, strikingly similar to the observed and reported issues in literature, incited renewal of the course with a focus on developing students' ability to engage in experimental physics research. The "procedural and conceptual knowledge (PACKS)…

Resonance is a crucial concept in Organic Chemistry that enables both deriving chemical properties from molecular structures and predicting reactions by considering electron density distribution. Despite its importance for problem-solving and learning success, learners encounter various difficulties with this concept. Although prior research…