On-Line Science Labs

by Evelyn Beck

IN VIRTUAL SCIENCE labs, students can handle dangerous poisons, analyze raging rivers, and conduct experiments in evolution-activities otherwise impossible for most college students.

"The on-line labs were designed to provide a laboratory experience in situations where it is not feasible to do a wet lab because of the time, expense, or danger involved," says Robert Desharnais, a biology professor at California State University in Los Angeles. Desharnais has helped design EvolutionLab, MitochondriaLab, and Virtual River, on-line biology labs that are available by subscription from Addison Wesley Longman (http://biologylab.awlonline.com/). These labs are intended as supplements for high school and college students in classes ranging from introductory biology to population genetics.

Instructors at California State University at Los Angeles can pick and choose which virtual labs they wish to use. The kinds of experiments vary from the mundane to the mathematical to the virtually dangerous. For example, in the virtual earthquake lab, students generate a set of seismograms for an earthquake and locate its epicenter by estimating the time interval between the arrival of the P and S waves. "In MitochondriaLab," says Desharnais, "students run simulated wet lab experiments that use dangerous poisons like cyanide that we would not want to risk doing for real. In Virtual River, students can take detailed hydrological measurements that allow them to learn about river discharge, erosion, and flooding - measurements that would require weeks of dangerous field work to obtain."

In contrast, the science lab for physical geography at Casper College in Casper, Wyoming, is totally virtual. For Gerald Nelson, who directs distance education at Casper, the on-line labs offer the chance to expose students to far richer resources than the college can offer, such as satellite images and data involving climate, volcanoes, and earthquakes. He even believes that students learn the scientific method better in on-line labs than they do in face-to-face labs.

But most science instructors agree that wet labs offer an experience that can't be replaced. "Some things simply need to be touched, tasted, poked, prodded, or dissected," admits Nelson.

In a simulated lab, Desharnais insists, "You cannot learn to use laboratory and field equipment such as microscopes, pipettes, and velocity sensors by clicking objects on a computer screen. Also, the virtual labs are sanitized experiences which underestimate the true challenges and difficulties needed to do scientific work. Most importantly, with the virtual labs, the students always have in their mind that they are dealing with a simulation of nature, not the real thing. I believe students get more satisfaction and wonder from the experience of a successful experiment or field trip in the real world because they know there is no preprogrammed algorithm that guarantees a successful outcome.

For many programs, the ideal compromise is a combination of virtual and hands-on lab experiences. Students enrolled in the on-line physical geology course at Casper College must attend two Saturday hands-on labs as well as conduct experiments using lab kits they receive in the mail.

A similar hybrid approach is taken at Rio Salado Community College in Tempe, Arizona. John Arle oversees a science program that is entirely on-line and that is staffed completely by adjunct instructors, including one who continues to teach for RSCC even after moving to Iowa. Biology students receive lab kits in the mail, while anatomy students get a CD-ROM. Instead of actually dissecting a cat in a traditional wet lab, virtual anatomy students dissect a human on the computer. "They're doing everything they could do [before] with their cat," says Arle. "The advantage is now they have the right species."

One of the more unusual on-line science labs is a virtual crime lab that supplements an on-campus course called Chemistry and Crime: From Sherlock Holmes to Modern Forensic Science, at Williams College in Williamstown, Massachusetts. The virtual lab is intended to introduce students to the nature of crime labs before they attend hands-on labs. It is also a way to add order to the chaos that resulted when fifteen lab students coming from different crime scenes engaged simultaneously in six or seven different experiments. "It was hard to coordinate," says chemistry professor Lawrence Kaplan, who teaches the popular course.

Despite the different approaches, instructors agree that one must think differently when designing a virtual lab. "Instructions have to be very specific," says Arle. "You don't have the latitude of standing in front of a class and talking the students through the experiment."

On-line labs are expected to proliferate with the expansion of distance education, and they should improve along with the available technology. Nelson says, "Many things are possible now but impractical, as we must design for the lowest common denominator as far as student equipment and software goes. This will change as a higher grade of equipment and software becomes more readily and widely available to the general public."

"The number of virtual labs will definitely increase," agrees Desharnais. "However, there will always be a place for wet labs and field experience."