Marcus Brodeur Nicholas Braithwaite Ulrich Kolb Shailey Minocha

Design priorities for effective practical science instruction via remote & virtual experiments Marcus Brodeur Nicholas Braithwaite Ulrich Kolb Shailey Minocha

whatled me here? • Chemistry • Science Education • Distance Learning • Laboratory Experience Background > Your Humble Narrator

computer-mediated practicalscience • Remote Experimentsinstrumentsoperated remotely • Virtual Experiments reconstructions using real data Background > Definitions

YES, but WHY BOTHER? • Broadening Access • Sharing Facilities • Relaxing Time Constraints • Improving Confidence • Exploring New Approaches Background > Rationale

but don’t take mywordS for it... “Remote experiments are essential for me to continue studying; [they’re] always set up correctly and if reliable, an excellent source of practical experimentation.” “You can’t break them, and you can practise as much as you want on your own.” “Use of the [...] simulator – this helped me feel more confident and prepared for using the real telescope.” “Although collecting data on site would be better, remote access is almost on a par and makes little difference to results.” Background > Student Perceptions

student opinions aside, do these approaches work? It would appear so... Background > Student Outcomes

BUT AREN’T WE GETTING AHEAD OF OURSELVES HERE? Background > The Missing Link

Does the tool match the task? • Authenticity • Sociability • Metafunctionality Questions

Authentic learning experiences are key Relevance Reliability Realism Questions > Authenticity

students value realism more in virtual experiments “It’s still unreal because it’s clear it’s not happening. But it’s useful in that it shows you an interface that might be similar to what you might find in the real world.” “It may be realistic, but the way it changed felt a bit artificial.” “How can [virtual experiments] be improved? [By] making them as realistic as possible.” Questions > Authenticity > Realism

lack of perceived relevance is a serious turn-off “Doing virtual experiments gives you an inflated sense of security. Also you may not have captured the subtleties of the experiment.” “Carry out actual remote experiments rather than ‘cartoon style’ simulated experiments...” Questions > Authenticity > Relevance

students need to know they can trust the data “At this point I lost all faith in the data I was attempting to gather.” Questions > Authenticity > Reliability

sociability plays a considerable role • Collaboration • Accommodation Questions > Sociability

fostering scientific collaboration is more difficult... “In the end we decided to set up separate sessions to do the experiment.” “Too many cooks spoil the broth. [We had] 6 or 7 people trying to analyse the same data.” “It kind of felt like we were interfering with one another.” Questions > Sociability > Collaboration

...but not impossible to achieve “I’d never had a chance to write a report with someone else.” “[Earlier] science courses had a group activity only two or three weeks long. This felt like a much more substantial project.” “[The most effective aspect of the project was] working as part of a team on the observing night.” Questions > Sociability > Collaboration

let’s not forgetTHE loners “Our group communicated using [an online meeting room]. I prefer to work alone, so this was a difficult enough part of the module already.” Questions > Sociability > Accommodation

play to the strengths of virtual experiments Do what would be impossible with a real-world instrument: • Alter the flow of time. • Revisit past choices and change them. • Perform an experiment a hundredways at once. Questions > Metafunctionality

isn’t this basically just gamification? “The simulator should replicate some challenging aspects such as adverse weather or random system errors which only the night duty astronomer can solve.” Questions > Metafunctionality

i am not alone Come see what we’re doing here:opensciencelab.ac.ukpirate.open.ac.uk Follow us for more:@glyphery (Marcus)@OpenScienceLab@PirateOU And don’t be a stranger:marcus.brodeur@open.ac.uk Contact Details

the students have spoken, but what say you? Discussion

Marcus Brodeur Nicholas Braithwaite Ulrich Kolb Shailey Minocha