6.3 Review best practices and available resources by type of lab experience.

ACTION AT END OF SECTION:  Review the resources list of tools and additional strategies.  Make a list of what you think will work for your course.  Consider the other modules and consider how you will assess and promote communication and engagement.  

Interpreting Experimental Data  

If the focus is on interpreting experimental data, consider extracting datasets from the published literature that are aligned with the experiments students would have encountered in lab and develop problem sets or projects that focus on the interpretation of the data.
Provide students with sample data, perhaps in the form in which it would have been collected, and ask students to complete the analysis as if they had collected the data themselves. For cases where observations are part of the process, consider recording yourself or a TA completing the lab and ask students to take the necessary measurements and observations from the video. 

You could also combine the experimental protocols with interspersed questions that explore the reasons behind specific steps so that students gain deeper intuition into why certain procedures are performed. In place of actually performing the experiment, students can gain a critique-based understanding of the method followed by data interpretation. 

  • One type of question you may want to ask students involves providing them with a random sequence of steps involved in the experimental methodology and asking them to put them in the correct logical order. This requires students to critically understand why each step has to come before the next in a protocol. You can also provide students with a blank step, which they would need to fill in for themselves once they identify what step is missing.   Students can then complete the analysis and reflection as usual. Students can collaborate on analysis and reporting using email, Canvas, or other collaborative tools. 
  • ECU has a subscription to JOVE, a journal of online experiments. 

More Resources are available in the Resource Section 

As you prepare consider,  

  • Record yourself completing the lab and ask students to make necessary measurements and observations from the video.   
  • Being online makes it easy to take students to the field and areas where it would be difficult to take an entire class.  Have a live session in the field using your cell phone, MS Teams, and a tripod or record yourself and share as part of an assignment.  
  • Ask students to record themselves doing the work as a replacement for in person lab work.  
  • Explore reasoning behind scientific steps 
  • Ask students to work in groups and collaborate to solve problems.   
  • Ask students to use materials they may find in their own environment.  
  • Record small parts of your lecture and then meet for discussion. 
  • Provide a random sequence of steps and ask them to order the steps.   
  • Use a personal research experience or ‘hot topic’ to develop a case study. 

Digital Labs: 

We define a digital lab as an interactive, online tool in which students are asked to mimic an experiment. We define simulations as non-static representations of physical phenomena; that is, representations that seek to show movement of elements that make up a physical phenomenon. Simulations may or may not have an interactive element (that is, students may be able to initiate the phenomenon) and are typically briefer than digital labs. 

Virtual labs – Students perform actions to... Mimic data collection, preform or mimic data processing, analyze data, and draw conclusions about results. Simulations – Students observe representations of physical phenomena that include continuous or variable motion and may or may not interact with the simulation

When are they useful? 

A review of approximately a dozen digital labs and simulations, each focusing on a lab from our field, and considered digital materials conducted by the University of Vanderbilt concluded that digital labs and simulations can be useful in several situations. 

  • They are helpful when you don’t have access to the real materials. 
  • They are helpful with visualization of invisible phenomena, especially if movement or change is important and hard to see with still images. 
  • They are helpful as supporting material in lectures or for homework. 
  • They can be helpful as pre-lab preparation. 
  • They can help students see the difference between theory and reality. 
  • They can be helpful for replacing experiments that take too long to complete in real-time. 

What features make them useful? 

They identified several features that helped make these tools useful for student learning. Some of these features help manage students’ cognitive load (Mayer and Moreno, 2003), while others promote student metacognition and motivation. 

  • The technology should be simple, allowing students to focus on the science rather than the technology. 
  • There should be good guiding questions that focus students’ attention. However, the number of guiding questions and accompanying text should be limited to avoid loss of student attention. 
  • To help students assess their own understanding, there should be graphical output that changes with students’ input. Further, there should be questions that students answer and on which they receive feedback to help them assess understanding. 
  • The best digital labs and simulations are flexible, allowing “playing around space.” 
  • The outcome of the digital lab or work on the simulation should be a product that “counts” and therefore matters to students. 

If the focus is on learning techniques and their application to specific experimental situations, consider asking your students to engage in online simulations that may cover at least portions of, if not the entirety of a protocol. Many online resources are available, including many that are free.  If simulations are not an option, then explore the ability to remotely access equipment such as microscopies, maker spaces, or other scientific equipment. 

 A few software examples are listed below, but more can be found in the Resources section of this module.   

Experiential Labs  

If there are labs that require students to interact with others like counseling, therapy, clinical experiences, and teaching then consider students working with these populations using web conferencing tools to access these populations.  

Other Considerations 

  • Be clear in your expectations, and also flexible. Set clear expectations for the work, but keep in mind that students may require more flexibility and understanding as everyone gets accustomed to new ways of doing things. 
  • Access to software. Identify which software your students might currently only have access to on campus-based computers (as opposed to their personal computers). 
  • Ask students for feedback along the way. Check-in with students to find out how these new activities and methods are working for them. 
  • Hold live sessions. Students can use Zoom/Teams break-out rooms to explore the virtual tools or work through lab data exercises with a partner. Then, you and your TAs can be there to give assistance by popping into a breakout room or being available for questions. Of course, still remember flexibility as not all students might be able to make it or have access. 

Return to “Explore ways to handle lab experiences”

  1. Identify the type of online strategy that works best for your course.  
  2. Review best practices and available resources by type of lab experience.  
  3. Outline the plan for your course.