Abstract:

As the COVID-19 pandemic spread through the world, most universities switched almost overnight to remote/online teaching and learning. The immediate switch to the remote teaching that happened due to COVID-19, not surprisingly, challenged academic integrity during testing and had a detrimental effect on the laboratory components of science courses, with physics and engineering laboratories being hit particularly hard. While some successful commercial laboratory simulation platforms are available, they are costly, especially for the introductory-level classes, with large enrollments, which are common in the universities across North America. There is a widespread need for creating, finding and sharing open resources for undergraduate science laboratories. Moreover, the value of high-quality materials together with novel approaches to virtual lab experiments in science education goes well beyond the needs precipitated by the pandemic. Universities in jurisdictions with limited funds for public education could use high-quality virtual experiments to augment the regular teaching and learning resources that are available for laboratory training. It is reasonable to expect that effective materials developed for remote laboratories could be re-purposed to support post-COVID teaching and learning. An important decision for the undergraduate laboratories strategies is whether to develop entirely simulations-based approach or find ways to base the experiments on the real data acquisition. Another decision is whether to run the laboratories in synchronous or asynchronous mode, whether to structure the experiments in a more open or more structured format. The paper will examine different approaches to the online/remote undergraduate physics lab offerings. The authors will also share their experiences in converting traditional in-class laboratories into a remote teaching format.

Keywords:

Remote physics laboratories, remote teaching and learning.