Almost all reactions that concern chemists take place in solutions rather than in gaseous or solid phases. The course hence aims at exposing students to solutions of reacting molecules in liquids. It offers students an understanding of a variety of physico-chemical phenomena and ease of handling and rapidity of mixing different substances. Students will also be exposed to polyprotic acids, second and third dissociation constants, colligative properties, and predominant species as a function of pH. This course focuses on providing students with an understanding of the various solution properties and explanation of variety of physicochemical phenomena. Special emphasis will be placed on the properties of solutes and solvents, thermodynamics of electrolytes, kinetics and transport properties. The course covers aspects of colligative properties, reactions in solutions, advance buffer calculations, formation constant expression for complexes and polyprotics, titration and titration curves, and equilibria in redox and non-aqueous systems.

Philosophy of Science offers a unique opportunity to study the foundations, practices, and culture of the sciences from a philosophical perspective. Students will study the philosophy of science from the ancient Greeks to the contemporary philosophers of science. The course will expose students to questions addressed by philosophy of science and epistemology. The course will examine various philosophies of science and their implications for the definition of science, the development of science, and the teaching and learning of science. In particular, the course will focus on philosophies such as logicism, intuitionism and formalism. Also, included are contemporary philosophies such as social constructivism and postmodern philosophies. Students will be required to relate the substantial issues in this course to their experience and practice.

Technological skill development is most effective when embedded in content instruction rather than mastering specific Information Communication Technology (ICT) tools in a vacuum.  This course is a shift of ICT teacher professional development towards science content-centric approaches which advocates teaching teachers how to teach with ICT tools to meet content learning goals rather than teaching teachers how to use the tool. The course will provide trainees’ opportunities to develop their Technological Pedagogical Content Knowledge (TPACK) and skills to design, enact and evaluate ICT-based lessons using a variety of ICT tools that support different teaching and learning strategies. Topics to be covered include: The use of Information Communication Technology (ICT) such as internet resources, Java applets, Multimedia and spreadsheet; Online Educational Platforms (e.g. MOOC); Professional Learning Networks (PLN); TPACK as a framework for effective ICT integration; ICT application in didactic science teaching approaches and inquiry -based constructivist teaching approaches; and the use of Web quest.

Topics to be treated include Review of nucleic acid chemistry: DNA structure as a genetic material, RNA transcription and translation. The central Dogma theory: one-gene one –polypeptide, DNA-protein interactions. Regulation of gene expression. Microorganisms in Biotechnology, review of microbial genetics: screening, selection and strain improvement. Fermentation, Sterilization techniques and culture media preparation. Principles and practices of Tissue culture and initiation and maintenance of cell cultures. Somatic embryogenesis and organogenesis. 

This course covers general concepts underlying techniques within the confines of analytical, physical, inorganic, and organic areas of Chemistry. Advanced treatment of topics such as solvent extraction, distribution ratios, and the pH effects of solution among others will be undertaken in this course.

This course deals mainly with the fundamental principles of chromatography, liquid chromatography, gas chromatography, electrophoresis and other separation techniques. Instrumentation and fundamental concepts with broad relevance in many disciplines of Analytical Chemistry will be covered in the course. 

The course will expose students to the theories that underpin the qualitative and mixed methods research paradigms. It aims at the development of the knowledge and skills of students to enable them conduct a variety of qualitative and mixed methods studies aimed at improving teaching and learning of science in schools and other educational settings. It is expected that at the end of the course students will write a research proposal for a study that could be the focus of their thesis. Topics to be covered include: Various qualitative research approaches such as case studies, content analysis, ethnography, phenomenology, teaching experiments, and grounded research theories; Sequential and concurrent mixed methods approaches; Validity and reliability. Development of qualitative instruments, as well as data collection methods, and analyses will also be explored both manually and the use of the NVivo software.

This is a supervised research practicum course. It is designed to give students an opportunity to plan a small research and carry it through. Thus, the course provides flexibility for students to design, execute, analyze, present, critique, and revise research projects. The student is free to use any research design – quantitative, qualitative or a mixed method. The research does not need to be the eventual research to be conducted by the student though the freedom of this work leading to the student’s ultimate doctoral research is permitted. It is expected that each student will submit a 10 to 15 page report of their study at the end of the semester. Technically, for a typical research practicum, there is no or minimal teaching of new content. Consequently, only the following two topics will be covered to improve students’ writing skills: How to review a research paper and development of conceptual/theoretical framework for research.

The course will emphasize the construction and analysis of DNA/genomic libraries, preparation of synthetic oligonucleotide probes, purification and radiolabelling of DNA and hybridization. The course also covers also covers DNA amplification using Polymerase Chain Reaction and sequencing of the amplified DNA, Recombinant DNA technology involving site-directed mutagenesis as well as transformation and expression in vectors and hosts will be discussed. Detection and analysis of expressed proteins from cloned genes will also be considered.