Student Research

The Diet Coke and Mentos reaction is a common experiment performed in many science classes. This year, I adapted my somewhat free-wheeling “wing it” approach to this experiment to instead have students research, test, and adapt as needed. The students’ goal is to get the highest possible geyser.

Iain A. Smellie*, Iain L. J. Patterson*, Isobel Everest** *University of St Andrews School of Chemistry, North Haugh, St Andrews, United Kingdom, **Bedford Girls’ School, Bedford, United Kingdom

There is a growing interest in developing and offering Course-based Undergraduate Research Experiences (CUREs) for students at every level of undergraduate science education.

I’d like to report on one of the end-of-year research projects that two of my general chemistry students completed during class this year. If you’d like read more about these end-of year research projects in general, click here.

You may have read Sarah Kong's recent blog post on inquiry on this site. I thought I would give a description of one way I incorporate inquiry learning into one of the chemistry courses I teach.