Here is a novel approach to online virtual labs. A scientist recreates an actual experiment that he or she is involved in and makes it available for student use online. The scientist provides background information on a topic, an explanation of their observations, and how they set up their experiment. The student can read the original research paper, do the experiment, collect the data, and analyze and submit the data, all online. The laboratories I found in the following website are probably suitable for high school or college courses, but I can envision an adaptation of the format for middle school or even late elementary school. I will describe such an adaptation at the end of this submission.
Go to http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/0072437316/student_view0/online_labs.html
to view the virtual lab entry port. There are over 30 virtual labs available, under the titles “Real People Doing Real Science”. I have chosen one of the labs to describe in greater detail. This lab teams students up with Louise Guillette of the University of Florida, who is studying the effects of pollutants on the development of male and female alligators. To see the summary of his study, go to:
http://highered.mcgraw-hill.com/sites/dl/free/0072437316/120060/florida_alligators54.pdf
The main menu has 6 buttons to linking the student to these areas for exploration: Explore the Issue Being Investigated
Gain an Overview of the Experiment
Read the Original Research Paper
Meet the Investigator
Run a Virtual Experiment Exploring the Original Paper
Readings and Additional Resources
If you click on the button to run the virtual experiment, here’s what happens. You are given a question with observations to be used in forming a hypothesis. The student clicks on the 6 numbered buttons to read the observations. Then a button appears directing students to form a hypothesis, which is given to the student. The student then goes to “set up experiment”. Here the student moves the cursor under the names of 7 of Florida’s lakes and clicks the lake. A E/A (estrogen/androgen) ratio dot for female alligators appears on the graph for each lake. The student selects the analyze button, and a bar graph is drawn. The student repeats the steps for male alligators. The final step allows students to draw conclusions from the analysis of the data. There are 5 conclusions presented; the student chooses the best conclusion, and submits to the website for assessment.
I have a former elementary science student (class of 02) who is a seasoned biologist, environmentalist, and digital photographer. He, along with a videographer and a doctoral student in plant ecophysiology from UCB, have received a grant from National Geographic to go to Costa Rica this summer to study the plants and animals of the cloud canopy. They are researching the effects of possible global warming on the organisms that live in the cloud canopies of the rainforests. My student approached me earlier this school year to see if I would act as his educational consultant on the project. The team hopes to produce video downloads or DVD’s for students in elementary schools to learn about this delicate ecosystem. I hope to work with them to design the content in such a way to create virtual labs for student use. I would like to tailor the curriculum to the late elementary/middle school levels, and design virtual labs in a similar fashion to the one described above.
If you would like to see some of my student’s amazing and incredible photographs of the wildlife of the everglades and the birds of Australia, visit his website at:
www.drewfulton.com
He has an unfinished link for “Canopy in the Clouds”. Visit in the fall of ’08 after the project is completed.
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2 comments:
You have found so many great science resources. As you have worked through this course and researched online science resources, have your initial thoughts on virtual science labs changed at all? My initial thoughts were the ability to work with expensive or dangerous objects was easier and more accessible in a virtual lab. After your post and some from others I still have that opinion, but have also realized that the entire universe is opening up to our students.
At first, I felt there was no way to do a lab in a virtual school. Now I see that this is not the case. The virtual school has found ways for students to do labs at home at the middle school level, and can even do some of the more advanced labs at home with school-supplied materials. The labs that are too dangerous or expensive to do at home can now be done virtually. I think these are a viable option for science students. The best online labs seem to be at the college level, but as the technology improves, I envision more and more labs created in an online environment. I think we will see these labs get better, more realistic, and more useful. Yes, my opinion has changed towards the positive regarding online labs.
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