Undergraduate cosmic ray muon decay experiments with computer interfacing

The total synthesis of racemic Rosiglitazone, also known as the anti-diabetes drug Avandia, in six steps is the basis for an advanced undergraduate organic chemistry laboratory course. Several techniques and concepts learned in an introductory organic chemistry laboratory course are reinforced, and include TLC analysis, recrystallization, and reaction work-up. Additional techniques introduced into the organic chemistry laboratory course include phase-transfer catalysis, flash column chromatography, pressurized hydrogenation reactions, and multi-step total synthesis. Students are challenged at several levels, but mostly by an expectation of independent, in-depth spectral analysis of each product and providing bi-weekly experimental reports with journal-style spectral analysis. An advanced undergraduate organic laboratory course centered on the total synthesis of a medicinally important compound provides an overall focus for the semester, as well as greater interest and motivation for students.

Student Reaction to Study Facilities, with Implications for Architects and College Administrators; a report to the Presidents of Amherst College, Mount Holyoke College, Smith College, and the University of Massachusetts (Book Review)

An undergraduate laboratory experiment is described to measure Henry’s law constants of organic compounds using a bubble column and gas chromatography flame ionization detector (GC-FID). This experiment is designed for upper-division undergraduate laboratory courses and can be implemented in conjunction with physical chemistry, analytical chemistry, environmental chemistry, and toxicology laboratory courses. This experiment can be used to determine solubilities of organic compounds that have important implications in atmospheric chemistry and water pollution and build a useful database through undergraduate experiments.

Inquiry based learning (IBL) has gained popularity as a tool for teaching science courses such as chemistry, biology, physics and engineering.  This accelerating popularity is driven by technological advancements that allow IBL to be supported in the modern classroom1.  The purpose of IBL is to trigger the student’s curiosity and encourage them to ask questions.  The student’s role has become more active with technological advancements and access to multiple sources of information2.  In light of this, the chemical and biomolecular engineering department at Rice University has adopted IBL in the undergraduate teaching laboratory courses.  We implemented a flipped classroom model where students watched a 15-minute video then took a short quiz on safety and theory before they attended the first laboratory session.  The IBL model focuses on the student to drive the question inquiry process, by engaging and motivating them to evaluate new information pertaining to that knowledge. The laboratory experiment objectives were non-prescriptive allowing the students to develop their own methods for conducting the experiments. During the spring of 2020, we had all of the IBL course structure in place, and it aided significantly in our shift to “virtual classrooms” after Rice University closed its campus in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic.  By re-designing the undergraduate lab course using IBL principles, we fortuitously gave ourselves built-in flexibility to go to emergency virtual format in Spring 2020, and virtual format in Fall 2020.  This also allows us to go hybrid or full in-person in the future.  We provided students with laboratory data so that they could continue the analysis at home.  However, students were not able to conduct appropriate experimentation, which is one of the key learning objectives for the laboratory courses.

ADVERTISEMENT RETURN TO ISSUEPREVArticleNEXTThe Diels-Alder Reaction of 2,4-Hexadien-1-ol with Maleic Anhydride: A Novel Preparation for the Undergraduate Organic Chemistry Laboratory CourseKeith F. McDaniel and R. Matthew Weekly View Author Information Ohio University, Department of Chemistry, Clippinger Laboratories, Athens, OH 45701-2979Cite this: J. Chem. Educ. 1997, 74, 12, 1465Publication Date (Web):December 1, 1997Publication History Received3 August 2009Published online1 December 1997Published inissue 1 December 1997https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021/ed074p1465https://doi.org/10.1021/ed074p1465research-articleACS PublicationsRequest reuse permissionsArticle Views12405Altmetric-Citations9LEARN ABOUT THESE METRICSArticle Views are the COUNTER-compliant sum of full text article downloads since November 2008 (both PDF and HTML) across all institutions and individuals. These metrics are regularly updated to reflect usage leading up to the last few days.Citations are the number of other articles citing this article, calculated by Crossref and updated daily. Find more information about Crossref citation counts.The Altmetric Attention Score is a quantitative measure of the attention that a research article has received online. Clicking on the donut icon will load a page at altmetric.com with additional details about the score and the social media presence for the given article. Find more information on the Altmetric Attention Score and how the score is calculated. Share Add toView InAdd Full Text with ReferenceAdd Description ExportRISCitationCitation and abstractCitation and referencesMore Options Share onFacebookTwitterWechatLinked InRedditEmail Other access optionsGet e-Alertsclose SUBJECTS:Crystal cleavage,Diels-Alder reaction,Mixtures,Organic reactions,Undergraduates Get e-Alerts

A Positron Emission Tomograph based on LSO-APD modules with a sampling ADC read-out system for a students’ advanced laboratory course

New Directions for Institutional ResearchVolume 1976, Issue 9 p. 17-33 Article Institutional use of models: Hope or continued frustration? Paul J. Plourde, Paul J. Plourde Paul J. Plourde is director of the Computer Center at Amherst College, which serves Amherst, Hampshire, and Mount Holyoke colleges. He is a research fellow at the Center for Educational Management Studies at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and is vice-president of the College and University Systems Exchange (CAUSE).Search for more papers by this author Paul J. Plourde, Paul J. Plourde Paul J. Plourde is director of the Computer Center at Amherst College, which serves Amherst, Hampshire, and Mount Holyoke colleges. He is a research fellow at the Center for Educational Management Studies at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and is vice-president of the College and University Systems Exchange (CAUSE).Search for more papers by this author First published: Spring 1976 https://doi.org/10.1002/ir.37019760904Citations: 3 AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume1976, Issue9Spring 1976Pages 17-33 RelatedInformation

“Entrapped: Visiting Migrant Detainees in Western Massachusetts” is a collectively written reflection by Mount Holyoke College faculty and students about our visit to and tour of the Franklin County Jail in Greenfield, Massachusetts. This visit was part of our effort to develop a permanent visitation program and learning community among immigrant detainees who are held at the county facility, the students, staff, and faculty at Mount Holyoke College, and local community organizations in our region. In this piece, we collectively comment on the experience of entering a carceral facility, engaging with staff at the jail, and understanding the nuances in the relationship between county and federal enforcement bureaucracies. Most importantly, we reflect on our interactions with largely (but not exclusively) Latino male detainees teetering on the verge of deportation.

ROBERT BUCHELE is Professor of Economics at Smith College. JENS CHRISTIANSEN is Professor of Economics at Mount Holyoke College. industrial-relations system ought to be judged, at least in part, on how workers are treated by it. So there is a case for a policy that enhances worker rights even if that policy reduces productivity growth. But in contrast to the widespread belief today that worker rights undermine economic efficiency, we believe that a strong case can be made that worker rights enhance productivity. In sum, what's good for workers is also good for the economy, certainly in the long run as well as in the short run.

Eugenia Hanfmann's life encompassed a childhood during the Russian revolution through studies in Germany to a distinguished career in the United States. She did research in Kurt Koffka's laboratory at Smith College, later at Worcester State Hospital, and then in Chicago where she developed, with Jacob Kasanin, the Hanfmann-Kasanin test. She taught at Mount Holyoke College before she joined the staff of the OSS Assessment Program in 1944. After the war she became a member of the Department of Social Relations at Harvard and also the Russian Research Institute there. In 1953 she went to Brandeis University as Professor of Psychology and Director of the Counseling Center, which she established and guided for many years. Hanf mann's interests ranged from investigations of cognitive functions to studies of personality and psychotherapeutic issues.

Global interest in both renewable energies and reduction in emission levels has placed increasing attention on hydrogen-based fuel cells that avoid harm to the environment by releasing only water as a byproduct. Therefore, there is a critical need for education and workforce development in clean energy technologies. A new undergraduate laboratory course for students has been developed, entitled, Clean Energy: Hydrogen/Fuel Cells. If hydrogen is to be used on a large-scale basis, the storage of hydrogen becomes a crucial issue for mobility and transport applications. Fuel cell technology would be practical if hydrogen could be stored in a safe, efficient, compact, and economic manner. The experiments reported here train students to measure the hydrogen storage capacity of aqueous hydrochloric acid solution and solid magnesium hydride by measuring the consumption of hydrogen with a hydrogen fuel cell and evaluating its performance. In addition, students also gain fundamental experience handling gases and using the gas law equations.

It is an extraordinary challenge to offer an undergraduate laboratory course in virology that teaches hands-on, relevant molecular biology techniques using nonpathogenic models of human virus detection. To our knowledge, there exists no inexpensive kits or reagent sets that are appropriate for demonstrating real-time PCR (RT-PCR) in an undergraduate laboratory course in virology. Here we describe simple procedures for student exercises that demonstrate the PCR detection of an HIV target nucleic acid. Our procedures combine a commercially available kit for conventional PCR with a modification for RT-PCR using the same reagents in the kit, making it possible for an instructor with access to a LightCycler® instrument to implement a relevant student exercise on RT-PCR detection of HIV nucleic acid targets. This combination of techniques is useful for demonstrating and comparing conventional PCR amplification and detection with agarose gel electrophoresis, with real-time PCR over a series of three laboratory periods. The series of laboratory periods also is used to provide the foundation for teaching the concept of PCR primer design, optimization of PCR detection systems, and introduction to nucleic acid queries using NCBI-BLAST to find and identify primers, amplicons, and other potential amplification targets within the HIV viral genome. The techniques were successfully implemented at the Biology 364 undergraduate virology course at the University of Scranton during the Fall 2008 semester. The techniques are particularly targeted to students who intend to pursue either postgraduate technical employment or graduate studies in the molecular life sciences.

Most psychology curricula require the completion of coursework on the physiological bases of behavior. However, delivery of this critical content in a laboratory format is somewhat rare at the undergraduate level. To fill this gap, this article describes the design and implementation of an undergraduate laboratory course in psychophysiology at a small, primarily undergraduate institution. I discuss the course goals, course structure, and evidence related to its usefulness and promise. The course appears to successfully illuminate the physiological bases of behavior via the conduct of original psychophysiological research.

An advanced laboratory course for physics seniors is described that uses open-ended projects organized in such a way that all of the students work on each project in turn. The students change every two or three weeks from one project to another, each time being confronted with an ongoing experiment to which they are asked to make their contribution. The laboratory notebooks contain the cumulative total of a group effort. Individual experiments can be carried to considerable depth, but at the same time the individual students are not confined to the limitations of working on just one project.

Instructor use of humor can positively affect students' educational experiences by increasing students' comfort in the classroom and making the instructor seem more approachable. Humor can also elicit emotional responses, which in turn may influence students' engagement in the course and their relationship with the instructor. However, students may interpret instructor humor differently, resulting in varied effects. The present study examined how instructors' use of verbal humor relates to students' emotions about their lab course. In addition, we examined whether researcher-identified humor aligned with student reports to support valid inferences about instructor humor. To accomplish this, trained researchers analyzed classroom audio recordings of instructor talk in 48 lab courses to identify instances of verbal instructor humor. We also surveyed their undergraduate students (n = 462) about their instructor's humor and pleasant and unpleasant emotions about their lab course. Our results revealed that trained researchers' coding of instructor humor was poorly predictive of students' emotions about their laboratory courses. In contrast, students who perceived their instructor to be humorous reported greater pleasant emotions and fewer unpleasant emotions. Our results suggest that instructor humor from students' perspective may be influential in how they experience instruction. In addition, student perceptions of instructor humor may be a more useful indicator than researcher observations for studying instructor humor.