Upper-division Laboratory Research Articles

Teaching Undergraduate Students Heterogeneous Electrocatalytic Water Oxidation Using Cyclic Voltammetry and Python Simulation

Undergraduate students are motivated and engaged to persist in STEM by learning skills to combat climate change and reduce carbon dioxide (CO2) generation. Water electrolysis is not only an important process to produce the clean energy source hydrogen (H2), but also a classical reaction discussed in the undergraduate chemistry curriculum.In this talk, we will discuss our efforts of developing an upper division laboratory to teach undergraduate students basic concepts in electrochemistry via the heterogeneous anodic electrocatalytic water oxidation in water electrolysis.1Both experimental work and simulation practices with Python were implemented in this laboratory. Key concepts including chemical reversibility, electrochemical reversibility and kinetics of heterogeneous charge transfer were introduced to students in the learning outcomes. The integrated experience of mini lectures, hands-on experience of materials preparation and electrochemical characterizations along with the simulations helped enhance students’ learning. Additionally, the experience of using Python simulations motivates students to learn programming, which will help prepare them for the workforce and other STEM careers. Chem. Educ. 2023, 100, 8, 3036–3043

Student definitions of ownership and perceived ways ownership influences writing in a biology laboratory class.

Laboratory courses offer a unique opportunity, and sometimes challenge, to engage students in projects where they can experience ownership and authentic science practices. An important science practice is writing, which can lead to increased learning about concepts and science communication. Experiencing a sense of ownership in research can lead to various student outcomes, such as increased motivation, greater interest in research, and higher retention in STEM fields. Although previous work has extracted aspects of ownership from students' descriptions of research experiences, studies have not examined directly how students define and perceive ownership. In addition, we do not have a clear idea of whether a sense of ownership is related to student attitudes toward scientific writing in a lab course setting. To better understand the relationship between ownership and writing directly from students' perspectives, we used analysis of student responses to surveys and interviews in an upper-division laboratory course. Using a grounded theory approach for the analysis of 167 survey responses and 9 interviews, we found that students have varying perceptions of project ownership, with the most frequent being opportunities to contribute ideas and shape the project (autonomy), doing the work, and leadership. Students largely perceived that increased ownership had positive influences on their writing, such as increased understanding and thinking, freedom in writing, and increased motivation. Learning about how students perceive ownership in the context of a lab course is useful for considering how lab course structure may support the development of a sense of ownership and may influence how we can engage students in meaningful writing practices.

Transforming a Classic Polymer Demonstration into a Flexible, Inquiry-Based Laboratory Experience for Lower and Upper Division Laboratories

Transforming a Classic Polymer Demonstration into a Flexible, Inquiry-Based Laboratory Experience for Lower and Upper Division Laboratories

Reevaluate how to evaluate: Systemic assessment biases affect students' confidence in college upper-division biology laboratory courses.

Grades influence students' confidence and decisions to complete STEM degrees and pursue relevant careers. What affects students' confidence and performance in college upper-division biology laboratory courses and how relevant are evaluation methods to career success? STEM laboratory courses are an excellent model to address these issues because of the hybrid environment, combining traditional lecture course format and the practical application of knowledge. We surveyed 567 students in two upper-division laboratory molecular biology courses at a major research university to compare course-content self-assessment, students' predicted grades, and actual grades received. By analyzing students' confidence and correlating them to grades assigned by the instructor, we identified biases including student and Instructor Assistant (IA) gender, IA experience, and academic quarter. Considering the systemic effect of identified biases, a correlation (R2 =0.37, p < 0.01) between predicted and actual grades, and weak but statistically significant correlation (R2 =0.10, p < 0.01) between students' comprehensive course-content self-assessment and their predicted grade are not surprising. Our analysis suggests that students' quantifiable self-assessment, a relatively simple and data-rich resource, helps identify evaluation bias. If administered periodically throughout the course, these assessments can help mitigate biases, improve student learning, evaluation, and retention in STEM fields.

A parametric oscillator for classroom demonstration or student laboratory

We describe a simple and intuitive parametric oscillator apparatus which is suitable for a classroom demonstration or an upper-division laboratory. In order to facilitate the incorporation of this apparatus into the physics curriculum, we provide the learning objectives for an upper-division physics laboratory experiment. We present typical experimental data illustrating the main features of parametric oscillators including oscillation threshold, frequency shifting at large amplitude and bistability. Our experiments and theory emphasize identifying the lowest-order threshold for oscillation in terms of the modulation depth and quality factor. This experiment provides a foundation for understanding current research such as that in quantum opto-mechanics and nonlinear dynamics.

Spectroscopy of neon for the advanced undergraduate laboratory

We describe a spectroscopy experiment, suitable for upper-division laboratory courses, that investigates saturated absorption spectroscopy and polarization spectroscopy in a neon discharge. Both experiments use nearly identical components, allowing students to explore both techniques in a single apparatus. Furthermore, because the wavelength of the laser is in the visible part of the spectrum (640 nm), the experiment is well-suited for students with limited experience in optical alignment. The labs nicely complement a course in atomic or plasma physics, provide students with the opportunity to gain important technical skills in the area of optics and lasers, and can provide an introduction to radio-frequency electronics.

Moving a Biochem Majors Lab Course into Discovery Based Research

Efforts to establish an upper division lab course based on self‐directed, discovery based biochemical research are detailed. Consideration of the varying student backgrounds and levels of preparation must be balanced with preparation for the departmental requirement of a laboratory based senior thesis. The major goals of this lab course are to provide instruction in scientific writing, as well as in the design, execution, and interpretation of biochemical research projects. The first goal is to train students in reading and understanding original peer‐reviewed scientific reports, as well as in writing in a scientific style (i.e. following Biochemistry format). The second goal is to bridge the gap between receiving detailed lab protocols and the ability to design, implement, troubleshoot and communicate protein based biochemical research investigations in small groups. Our efforts to develop and evolve this course in a land‐grant university are detailed here.This abstract is from the Experimental Biology 2018 Meeting. There is no full text article associated with this abstract published in The FASEB Journal.

A practical lesson in polarization optics: Creating a 3D image using a liquid crystal cell

ABSTRACTTo demonstrate a practical application of polarization physics, a liquid crystal pi cell is used as a variable retarder to create different types of polarization. By varying the applied voltage to the cell, the polarization of the outgoing light can be controlled. Because of the rapid switching time of the pi cell, it is possible to alternate between orthogonal circular polarizations or orthogonal linear polarizations at a speed faster than can be reconciled by the human eye. Synchronizing images intended for different eyes with the polarization state of the cell, light of orthogonal polarization is incident upon a polarization maintaining screen. Through use of passive glasses that allow one state of polarization to pass while blocking the orthogonal state for each eye, the visual information will create a 3D image in the viewer's mind. The physics behind this can be described using bra-ket notation, and the experimental method is similar to that used in movie theatres and theme park attractions. It can be used as a practical demonstration of polarization physics and liquid crystal physics as well as an experiment in an upper-division laboratory course for physics majors.

Design and implementation of instructional videos for upper-division undergraduate laboratory courses

Well-designed laboratories can help students master content and science practices by successfully completing the laboratory experiments. Upper-division chemistry laboratory courses often present special challenges for instruction due to the instrument intensive nature of the experiments. To address these challenges, particularly those associated with rotation style course structures, pre-laboratory videos were generated for two upper-division laboratory courses, Analytical Measurements and Physical Measurements. Sets of videos were developed for each experiment: a pre-laboratory lecture, an experimental, and a data analysis video. We describe the theoretical principles that guided the design of the instructional videos as well as the process. To assess the impact of the videos on students' successful completion of the experiments, a mixed-methods approach to data collection was used, which included video-recorded laboratory observations, student one-on-one interviews, and the Meaningful Learning in the Laboratory Inventory (MLLI) survey. Our findings indicate that video-based resources can help alleviate some challenges associated with rotation-style labs, particularly the temporal disconnect between pre-laboratory lectures and experiment completion as well as the need for more student autonomy in upper-division laboratory courses.

A Student-Built Scanning Tunneling Microscope

Many introductory and nanotechnology textbooks discuss the operation of various microscopes including atomic force (AFM), scanning tunneling (STM), and scanning electron microscopes (SEM). In a nanotechnology laboratory class, students frequently utilize microscopes to obtain data without a thought about the detailed operation of the tool itself. I wanted to give my students a deeper appreciation for the physics by having them build a simple scanning tunneling microscope. Initially, 15 hours of an upper-division laboratory class were devoted to building and operating the STM. As the build process was refined, the time commitment for this project has shrunk to nine hours. Using the method described in this paper, the project is now simple enough that it can be built and operated by students in the introductory class.

Practice makes pretty good: assessment of primary literature reading abilities across multiple large-enrollment biology laboratory courses.

Primary literature is essential for scientific communication and is commonly utilized in undergraduate biology education. Despite this, there is often little time spent training our students how to critically analyze a paper. To address this, we introduced a primary literature module in multiple upper-division laboratory courses. In this module, instructors conduct classroom discussions that dissect a paper as researchers do. While previous work has identified classroom interventions that improve primary literature comprehension within a single course, our goal was to determine whether including a scientific paper module in our classes could produce long-term benefits. On the basis of performance in an assessment exam, we found that our module resulted in longitudinal gains, including increased comprehension and critical-thinking abilities in subsequent lab courses. These learning gains were specific to courses utilizing our module, as no longitudinal gains were seen in students who had taken other upper-division labs that lacked extensive primary literature discussion. In addition, we assessed whether performance on our assessment correlated with a variety of factors, including grade point average, course performance, research background, and self-reported confidence in understanding of the article. Furthermore, all of the study conclusions are independent of biology disciplines, as we observe similar trends within each course.

Paul William Zitzewitz

Paul William Zitzewitz, a dedicated educator, noted textbook author, atomic physicist, and leader in the American Association of Physics Teachers (AAPT), passed away on 30 April 2013 in Northville, Michigan, at age 70 after a long battle with cancer. Paul William Zitzewitz PPT|High resolutionPaul was born in Chicago on 5 June 1942. While in high school, he developed a strong interest in science and had an early internship with IBM in downtown Chicago. After earning his BA in physics from Carleton College in Minnesota in 1964, Paul went to Harvard University and received his AM and PhD in physics in 1965 and 1970, respectively.Under the guidance of Nobel laureate Norman Ramsey, Paul did his thesis work on the atomic hydrogen maser. He focused on measuring the frequency shifts arising from collisions of the hydrogen atoms with the maser walls. That work led to a significant improvement in the accuracy of our knowledge of the maser transition frequency and to the maser’s use as a fundamental time standard. Paul’s wide-ranging curiosity led him, even as a graduate student, to think about the recently discovered millisecond-period pulsars as possible time standards.Between 1970 and 1972, Paul was a postdoc at the University of Western Ontario in Canada. He then spent a year at Corning Glass Works as a senior research scientist before being hired in 1973 as an assistant professor of physics at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. In 1978 he became an associate professor of physics, and in 1984, a professor.In his research at Dearborn, Paul concentrated on positrons and positronium. With colleagues at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, he made precision measurements of the decay rate of ortho-positronium.A dedicated teacher, Paul had several noteworthy achievements during his long career, including his reforms of upper-division laboratory, electronics, and advanced laboratory courses. For both in-service and pre-service elementary school teachers, he developed and taught three courses on science education. In recognition of his accomplishments in education, he was appointed a professor of science education in 2005. Paul served as chair of the department of natural sciences from 1999 to 2005 and associate dean of the College of Arts, Sciences, and Letters from 1988 to 1993. In 2009 he retired from his faculty positions.Paul’s Physics: Principles and Problems (McGraw-Hill/Glencoe, 2005) is a widely used high school textbook that has gone through nine editions and has been translated into several foreign languages. He also authored the second edition of The Handy Physics Answer Book (Visible Ink Press, 2011), which presents physics phenomena in easy-to-understand conceptual language for the general public.Paul was active in many physics and physics teachers’ organizations, including AAPT and the Detroit Metropolitan Area Physics Teachers. He served as president of AAPT’s Michigan section in 1996–97 and as treasurer and executive board member of the national AAPT from 2008 until his death. With the American Physical Society, Paul served on the Committee on Education and the Committee on Informing the Public, and he was chair of the Forum on Education in 1998–99. He received the distinguished service award from AAPT’s Michigan section in 2001. Among Paul’s many recognitions from the University of Michigan-Dearborn were the Distinguished Faculty Research Award in 1985 and the Distinguished Teaching Award in 2007.Being dedicated to K–12 education, in 2010 Paul and his wife, Barbara, generously endowed AAPT’s Excellence in Pre-College Teaching Award, now the Paul W. Zitzewitz Award for Excellence in Pre-College Physics Teaching.Throughout his life, Paul enthusiastically shared with his colleagues, students, children, and grandchildren his curiosity about the natural world; his love of scientific research, teaching, and learning; and his engaging sense of humor.© 2013 American Institute of Physics.

What Faculty Interviews Reveal about Meaningful Learning in the Undergraduate Chemistry Laboratory

Forty chemistry faculty from American Chemical Society-approved departments were interviewed to determine their goals for undergraduate chemistry laboratory. Faculty were stratified by type of institution, departmental success with regard to National Science Foundation funding for laboratory reform, and level of laboratory course. Interview transcripts that were coded and analyzed using the lens of meaningful learning reveal the importance of cognitive and psychomotor goals relative to affective learning, particularly in organic chemistry and upper-division chemistry laboratory courses. This research reveals that the undergraduate chemistry laboratory offers multiple opportunities for faculty to articulate learning goals across the cognitive, affective, and psychomotor domains. Furthermore, these goals are accessible across the undergraduate chemistry curriculum from general chemistry through organic chemistry and into a wide array of upper-division laboratories. In this study, faculty showed a decreasing...

NMR Studies of Structure–Reactivity Relationships in Carbonyl Reduction: A Collaborative Advanced Laboratory Experiment

An upper-division laboratory project has been developed as a collaborative investigation of a reaction routinely taught in organic chemistry courses: the reduction of carbonyl compounds by borohydride reagents. Determination of several trends regarding structure–activity relationship was possible because each student contributed his or her results to an overall data set in a situation similar to a research environment. The students learned to use 1H NMR techniques for in situ kinetic determinations and collaborated with classmates to develop a complete theory for structure–activity effects in the kinetics of this fundamental organic reaction.

Faculty Perspectives of Undergraduate Chemistry Laboratory: Goals and Obstacles to Success

Faculty perspectives of the undergraduate chemistry laboratory were the focus of a study to articulate the goals, strategies, and assessments used in undergraduate teaching laboratories. Data were collected via semistructured interviews with faculty (N = 22) from community colleges, liberal arts colleges, comprehensive universities, and research institutions engaged in teaching or supervising undergraduate laboratories. The goals for general chemistry, organic chemistry, and upper-division laboratories are described and compared among faculty who have received NSF-CCLI (now called NSF-TUES) grants to implement changes in laboratory and those who have not. Problems and limitations to success in laboratory are also reported, and the impact of these obstacles on student achievement and laboratory curricula is discussed.

An NMR Experiment Based on Off-the-Shelf Digital Data-Acquisition Equipment

Nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) poses significant challenges for teaching in the context of an undergraduate laboratory, foremost because of high equipment cost. Current off-the-shelf data-acquisition hardware, however, is sufficiently powerful to constitute the core of a fully digital NMR spectrometer operating at the earth’s field. We present an NMR experiment that we have developed on this basis for an upper-division laboratory in physical chemistry. Students utilize a spectrometer that is controlled by a program written in LabView to explore the fundamentals of NMR alongside modern techniques of digital data acquisition. An advantage of this approach is that all of the hardware and software components used in the experiment are transparent to the user, which fosters inquiry-based discovery of materials beyond the basic experiments described in the student manual.

Creating, implementing, and sustaining an advanced optical spectroscopy laboratory course

An upper-division laboratory course in atomic and molecular spectroscopy is described. Examples of outcomes that also benefit second-year physics laboratories and demonstrations in introductory courses are presented. The overarching goal that drove the development of the course was to assist students in understanding the fundamental connections between atomic and molecular spectra and the underlying structures. A selection of laboratory experiences supporting this goal, and the equipment and techniques necessary to provide them, are outlined.

Investigative Cases and Student Outcomes in an Upper-Division Cell and Molecular Biology Laboratory Course at a Minority-serving Institution

Active-learning strategies are increasingly being integrated into college-level science courses to make material more accessible to all students and to improve learning outcomes. One active-learning pedagogy, case-based learning (CBL), was developed as a way to both enhance engagement in the material and to accommodate diverse learning styles. Yet, adoption of CBL approaches in undergraduate biology courses has been piecemeal, in part because of the perceived investment of time required. Furthermore, few CBL lesson plans have been developed specifically for upper-division laboratory courses. Here, we describe four cases that we developed and implemented for a senior cell and molecular biology laboratory course at San Francisco State University, a minority-serving institution. To evaluate the effectiveness of these modules, we used both written and verbal assessments to gauge learning outcomes and attitudinal responses of students over two semesters. Students responded positively to the new approach and seemed to meet the learning goals for the course. Most said they would take a course using CBL again. These case modules are readily adaptable to a variety of classroom settings.

Thermal and chemical denaturation ofBacillus circulansxylanase

A number of institutions have been, or are in the process of, modifying their biochemistry major to include some emphasis on the quantitative physical chemistry of biomolecules. Sometimes this is done as a replacement for part for the entire physical chemistry requirement, while at other institutions this is incorporated as a component into the traditional two-semester biochemistry series. The latter is the model used for biochemistry and molecular biology majors at the University of Richmond, whose second semester of biochemistry is a course entitled Proteins: Structure, Function, and Biophysics. What is described herein is a protein thermodynamics laboratory module, using the protein Bacillus circulans xylanase, which reinforces many lecture concepts, including: (i) the denatured (D) state ensemble of a protein can be different, depending on how it was populated; (ii) intermediate states may be detected by some spectroscopic techniques but not by others; (iii) the use and assumptions of the van't Hoff approach to calculate ΔH(o) , ΔS(o) , and ΔG(o) (T) for thermal protein unfolding transitions; and (iv) the use and assumptions of an approach that allows determination of the Gibb's free energy of a protein unfolding transition based on the linear dependence of ΔG(o) on the concentration of denaturant used. This module also requires students to design their own experimental protocols and spend time in the primary literature, both important parts of an upper division lab.

Integration of laboratory exercises in developmental biology and neurobiology courses using the Xenopus oocyte expression system

This collaborative laboratory exercise integrates two upper division laboratory courses (Developmental Biology and Neurobiology) offered to biology majors at Wake Forest University. The laboratory exercise involves the use of the Xenopus oocyte expression system to study the function of specific membrane receptors and ligand-activated channels. cDNA or mRNA for receptor proteins is injected into Xenopus oocytes. The oocytes are assayed for expression of receptor proteins and two-electrode voltage clamping is done to determine whether the expressed proteins are functional in the oocyte system. This series of laboratory exercises is innovative in its interdisciplinary and collaborative approach to undergraduate teaching, and in its use of sophisticated molecular biological and physiological techniques in the undergraduate teaching laboratory. Students learn first-hand how these techniques have been used to achieve a new level of understanding of both development and neurobiology. Journal of Industrial Microbiology & Biotechnology (2000) 24, 353–358.