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The goal of undergraduate chemistry laboratories is to allow students to learn about chemical systems and key laboratory skills. They should then apply this knowledge to solve problems and connect macroscopic observations in the laboratory with those occurring at the submicroscopic level. Unfortunately, these needs are not met through traditional confirmation laboratories. Therefore, many chemistry instructors are turning toward research-based laboratories and course-based undergraduate research experiences (CUREs). There are also many cases where summer workshops, often with nontraditional pedagogy, are used for students. This article describes the STEM CoLab Program, a novel type of summer workshop that seeks to build student chemistry knowledge and skills in research and presentation at the beginning of their college work. This program uses the principles of CUREs for students who are just entering the university, mostly as freshmen. Several different phenomena have been investigated during the program. In this paper, we report the overall work of the program from 2016 through 2021 and provide additional details on the program's implementation in 2020 and 2021 when students conducted their work from home, using a combination of a take home research kit for studying salivary amylase "in vitro" and computer-based visualizations of amylase-inhibitor interactions "in silico" using "PyMOL" and online docking tools.

The chirality of chemicals is a well-known concept among undergraduates. The examples of chiral molecules in daily life are introduced to high school students as well. However, the chirality of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) remains unpopular in these groups. In this paper, a simple visualization of SWCNTs was first performed via paper origami. Then, a cost-effective separation experiment was introduced to the students to achieve the actual chiral SWCNTs. The proposed visualization and separation of chiral SWCNTs were evaluated in students' science projects. Introducing the chirality concept to students would enhance the students' understanding of nanomaterials and the chirality of SWCNTs.