Teaching High School Science

Blending At-Home and Virtual Science Labs in Science Curriculum

• Kesha "Doc" Williams • Season 1 • Episode 2

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Curious about how combining at-home and virtual labs can change science education? Let's dive into the details. First, we'll explore at-home labs, where creativity and real-world applications thrive. But we'll also address safety concerns and the potential isolation of learning alone.

Next, we'll look at virtual labs, which offer accessibility and safety but may lack sensory experiences. We'll then discuss blending these experiences for a better educational strategy. Our goal is to create a rich learning experience for high school students.

I'll provide insights and strategies for educators and parents, making sure science education is engaging and informative. Join the conversation as we pave the way for a smarter, safer, and more interactive approach to learning science.


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Speaker 1:

Hey there, and welcome to another episode of Teaching High School Science. I'm doing a deep dive into labs, and that is both types of labs at-home labs and virtual labs. I'll compare the pros and cons of each, discuss why incorporating both into your high school curriculum is a good idea, the common strategies to use across both types of labs, and then I share actual labs for biology, chemistry, physics, environmental science and forensic science in both forms. Now, this is a ton of good information, so I'm going to break this down across three episodes. That way, I'm keeping it into bite-sized chunks and you can decide which ones you want to listen to or if you want to listen to all three. In today's episode, let's discuss why having both of them in your high school curriculum is a good idea, by discussing the pros and cons of each.

Speaker 1:

Welcome to Teaching High School Science. I'm your host, doc, a former biochemist turned high school science teacher and private tutor. Whether you're homeschooling your team through high school science or teaching online, join me as I share tips and strategies I've learned over the years for at-home and online labs and activities, breaking down complex concepts and structuring learning in a way that makes sense. Now let's dive into today's topics. So first let me define what I mean by at-home labs and virtual labs. At-home labs are going to be those tangible, hands-on labs that you can do at home, where virtual labs are going to be those that are online. So I may use virtual labs or online labs interchangeably, but those are going to be the labs that you access online. There may be some type of simulation or actual lab environment that is digital or gamified or something like that, where students engage with the concepts. Now that we understand what I mean when I use the terms at-home labs versus virtual or online labs, let's dive into some of the pros and cons of each. Some of these may be obvious, but I want to have these in our minds as we move into the other parts of the conversations, because these will help to determine how you use them in your curriculum. So let's start with at-home labs Now.

Speaker 1:

There are several pros to at-home labs. One of them is that hands-on experience. Students are able to engage in tangible hands-on activities and sometimes, when they're able to do it with their hands, they're able to gain a deeper understanding of the concepts. And then you have that creativity component. Students have the ability to design their own experiments by interchanging the materials and the equipment that they're using and just the nature of them. Being at home generally means that the materials that you're using are going to be those that are home, safe things around the house, versus some of the materials that you will find in an actual science lab. And just the fact that we're using materials that you can find around your home or everyday materials, then the concepts tend to lend more to real-world application. Students are seeing how those materials that they come across every day apply, or the chemistry behind certain reactions, the physics behind certain things, how they apply to the environment. They are literally using their real world, their environment, to explore science.

Speaker 1:

Now, several of these pros can also become cons. For instance, those materials can be limited. Some at-home labs do not allow for the specialized equipment and resources that's available in your traditional lab environment, so it may restrict the scope of the experiment, but it does not restrict the deeper level of understanding. Then you have safety concerns. Regardless of the fact that they may be done with everyday materials, these materials, if used in certain ways, can still pose dangers. So it may be challenging, especially when dealing with certain materials, to be able to provide the proper supervision and making sure that you have the necessary equipment on hand in case something does go wrong. Another con is being prepared for when those results do not turn out the way that you expect them to, when the results do not show the concept. Now this happens in the lab, in the classroom trust me, been there, done that. So it's going to be very important and we'll get more into this when we talk about those strategies to go through the lab before you use it with your learner, so that you will be able to talk through some of the things that they may see. And the last con, which can be a very big one, would be the limited collaboration. One of the things about labs in a classroom is that they have the ability to collaborate and discuss with their peers. So that component and that's another one that I'm going to discuss more when we get to strategies the discussion and debriefing is extremely important to help them construct their understanding around the concepts of what they experience.

Speaker 1:

So now let's shift to online or virtual labs. Let's talk about the pros first. The first pro I want to talk about will be accessibility. They are accessible from anywhere, anytime, as long as you have an internet connection. Next will be safety, because all the materials are online and everything is done online, you do not have that extra worry that comes with the physical safety concerns of actually handling material and equipment. And then you have the cost associated with them, which is no cost for materials. Then you can repeat the labs as many times as you need, and this is great for students when they want to go back and review something when they didn't quite catch a data point, then they can go back and repeat it with ease. And while these simulations do have their limitations, the results that they do provide are generally pretty accurate, they're consistent, they're precise, and that contributes to a more reliable and precise analysis and development of their conclusions.

Speaker 1:

Now the cons for online labs. The first one that stands out the most is the lack of tactile experience. While virtual labs make the equipment and the cost so much better, you do not have that actual hands-on manipulation, not in the sense that you have with at-home labs. Now, virtual labs have come a very long way. They must manipulate variables, they must manipulate controls, but it's not the same as going to get cabbage and producing your own pH indicator, or the hands-on experience of measuring out baking soda and vinegar to mix them together for a chemical reaction and then calculate to store a geometry behind that. Now, these things can be done in a virtual environment, but it's just not quite the same and you feel that in that virtual lab.

Speaker 1:

And then there's the dependence on technology. If you're having limited access or limited bandwidth, then your experience online will be affected. Some of these platforms can be very complex to use, so you will have to spend time getting over that learning curve. Now, the more students use an application, the more familiar they get with it. If the learning curve is so high where they're constantly stumbling over the controls or how to get things done, then that does take away from the overall experience of the scientific concept. Now, if your learners already have a ton of screen time and you're in the effort of trying to reduce that screen time, then you may want to incorporate fewer virtual labs just enough to keep them engaged in science, but have a healthy mix of hands-on at-home labs.

Speaker 1:

Now, ultimately, the choice between at-home and online labs depend on your specific educational goals, resources that you have access to and your specific learning environment. However I mentioned this before combining both approaches strategically can provide a well-rounded science education experience. So, rather than viewing these approaches as either one or the other, let's explore how they can complement each other. Now here's a scenario showing how they can be used together in high school chemistry teaching assets and basis. Now I will start the unit with an online simulation that describes or introduces the fundamental concepts and assets and basis. For example, fet simulations has a great simulation I use to introduce assets and basis. It's great because students can actually see at a microscopic level what it means to have a complete dissociation or a partial dissociation and how that defines strong and weak assets versus strong and weak basis. And then have students actually create their own pH where they saw the pH in the virtual lab, but now they've created their own pH using that red cabbage I mentioned before, and then they test various substances around the house. Then they can take what they got with their at-home indicator and compare that with what they did in the virtual lab. Now, that's just the beginning.

Speaker 1:

I also like to do a virtual titration. There are virtual labs, one being with Kim Collective, where students use a titration technique to neutralize a solution, and what I found is that when I give students that virtual experience first, they are better prepared to go through and actually understand the concepts with the hands-on experience. So the hands-on experience become more of an extension, and it's great, because not all of my students have either the resources to do the at-home lab or the supervision to do it. And not only are they able to still gain that deeper understanding of the technique, but some of them actually prefer to do the online. Now, in my opinion, for many of them that I've seen is because there's so much more that goes on or that is involved with the at-home lab. Students have to gather the materials, measure everything out, clean up after themselves and all of that good stuff. They're just like nope, I do the online version, I can still do the calculations, I get data and I understand what the concept is. But given them that alternative, given them the choice, also increases their motivation, their engagement, because they feel as if they have that control. They have more say in how they're going to learn the concept, while ensuring that they still engage in some type of activity that will deepen their understanding of the concepts.

Speaker 1:

Now, by integrating at-home and online labs in this manner, students benefit from the best of both worlds. They have the hands-on experience of real-world experimentation, and this is especially helpful if they're going on to college or in a field where they're going to have to use wet lab techniques and when I say wet lab I mean actually measuring out things, pouring things, mixing things, those hands-on techniques. This is ideal for students that's going into those types of fields and they get the precision and accuracy from the data. When they're working with virtual labs, they understand that the data that they get in those simulations are designed to be accurate or designed to be precise, and they have a better understanding of what the calculation should be after that or what their observations should be. And another reason I like offering that choice, or having both of them incorporated, is because it not only cages to different environments, but it also cages to different learning styles.

Speaker 1:

Now, just thinking about it and wrapping it all up, the pros of at-home labs is that they provide that tangible experience. They allow for creativity and are easily manipulated. In other words, we can alter at-home labs by changing materials or procedures or anything else that we want to change to meet the needs of our learners. On the other side, we have to purchase those materials, so some of them can be costly or inaccessible, depending on what is available in our areas, and we have to provide more supervision to make sure that nothing goes wrong. So our virtual labs. Those pros are that you have precise, accurate data.

Speaker 1:

The simulations are designed for that.

Speaker 1:

They're less expensive than at-home labs in the terms that you do not have to purchase a lot of additional supplies and since everything is done online, you remove that safety concern.

Speaker 1:

However, they are internet dependent, so if you don't have a great internet connection then you may not have a great experience with that lab.

Speaker 1:

In addition to that, some of the platforms require a larger learning curve and you just don't get that same hands-on, tangible experience as you do with the at-home lab.

Speaker 1:

Just the nature of the pros and cons of each type makes it ideal to incorporate both of them into your science curriculum. Where one gives you a tangible, creative experience, the other one provides them the opportunity to see things or experience equipment that they would not normally be able to see or experience in the home environment. Join me in our next episode where we talk about those common strategies to use across both types of labs to ensure that your learner is not only enjoying the lab but also gaining the important information and concepts they need from the lab. Let me know if you have any questions, ideas or other experiences that you'd like to share, head on over to my podcast page, which you can access by visiting my website at thesciencemetrecom. Then select Podcast from the menu and subscribe now to the Teaching High School Science Podcast for your regular dose of motivation and just-in-time science ideas, and together let's make high school science a journey of exploration and achievement. Until next time, remember curiosity leads to endless possibilities.