Getting real: the authenticity of remote labs and simulations for science learning

Abstract

Teachers use remote labs and simulations to augment or even replace hands-on science learning. We compared undergraduate students’ experiences with a remote lab and a simulation to investigate beliefs about and learning from the interactions. Although learning occurred in both groups, students were more deeply engaged while performing the remote lab. Remote lab users felt and behaved as though they completed a real scientific experiment. We also examined whether realistic visualizations improved the psychological and learning experiences for each lab. Students who watched live video of the device collecting their data in the remote lab felt most engaged with the task, suggesting that it is the combination of the realistic lab and realistic video that was of the greatest benefit.

Keywords:

• cognition
• Web-based learning
• remote lab
• simulation
• video
• science learning

Acknowledgements

This work is supported in part by the National Science Foundation under grants OCI-0753324 and DUE-0938075. However, any opinions, findings, conclusions, and/or recommendations are those of the investigators and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Foundation. We gratefully acknowledge the University of Queensland, Australia for providing access to the remote radioactivity lab equipment.