Desktop Experiment Modules, or DEMos are hands-on, small-scale experiments that students can manipulate and view from all angles at their desk. Ideal DEMos are portable, inexpensive, and fairly straightforward (minimal fiddling) such that they enhance a lesson. DEMos are an intuitive extension of cooperative learning in the classroom because students can work in teams of 3 to 4 to observe, predict, and calculate behaviors.

Desktop Experiment Modules (DEMos) have the advantage of engaging the sensing and visual learners while assisting the global learners in providing a framework to piece information together as the lesson progresses. The traditional demo performed by the instructor in front of the classroom has a few disadvantages: 1) in a class larger than 20, students have a hard time seeing, 2) the individual with the best position to observe and learn what is occurring is the instructor, and 3) the classic "I understand when I watch someone else do it, but not when I do it alone" pitfall occurs.

This webpage provides complete resources for two such experiments: Charged Up on Electrophoresis and Brewing with Bioreactors. Complete supply lists, pre-assignment exercises, experimental procedures, and lab mats are provided in html and pdf format for both experiments and available for instructor use.