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he switch to virtual learning has presented a particular challenge when it comes to labs and research. In light of this, Elements Magazine has compiled an article to showcase the creative ways in which professors and students have adapted lab classes and semester research projects to a virtual environment. While nothing can replace the joy of trying to use a P10 micropipette to put a single microliter of DNA onto a tiny pedestal, these online alternatives allow students to continue applying concepts, learning techniques, and working collaboratively to further their education.
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Ecology Fossil Records Although fossils are about the exact opposite of computers (though some may argue that their computers are essentially fossils), Professor Kena Fox-Dobbs has found a number of different ways to adapt the lab for Fossil Records, a geology course, to online learning. First, “since students are no longer able to work with fossil specimens in our teaching collection they are interacting with 3D models (scans) of fossils via the Digital Atlas of Ancient Life’s Virtual Collection,” Fox-Dobbs states. Second, a planned field trip to the Methow Valley, a fossil-rich region in north-central Washington, has been replaced with “Virtual Field Experiences” put together by the Eastern Pacific Invertebrate Communities of the Cenozoic project. Additional lab experiences are being modified to a fully digital format; for example, students will be “interpreting paleoenvironmental conditions of local lakes by analyzing diatoms previously extracted (and imaged) from a sediment core” or “using fossil leaf margin analysis of paleofloras to reconstruct climate conditions, based upon leaf images (not specimens).”
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In Ecology lab, the second half of the semester is generally devoted to designing and carrying out independent research projects. Because students can no longer carry out research on campus, Professor Carrie Woods has worked with them individually to develop projects they can do elsewhere. These projects span a broad range of topics: “some are growing plants at home” and others “are doing field-based studies on birds, lichen, marine life, mushrooms, and plants all over the US,” Woods relates. At the end of the semester, students will come together virtually to present their research findings to the rest of the class.
General Chemistry As many of us can attest, Gen-Chem lab can be pretty confusing even when it’s in person, but provides important reinforcement of lecture material. Luckily, Professor Jill McCourt has managed to move labs online for the more than 130 students taking the class. To design these labs, McCourt describes how she “found existing demos online, recorded [her] own lab demos, and found virtual labs for students to practice collecting their own virtual data.” This will ensure that students are able to have valuable, meaningful learning experiences, McCourt says: “Although students are missing the hands-on aspect, they are still collecting and analyzing data and thinking about chemistry concepts in an environment different from their lecture setting.”
