Abstract:

In many disciplines of science and engineering education, online (or called remote-controlled) experiments are recently emerging as another important exemplar of technology-enhanced learning because it can support not only e-learning for engaging students with authentic experiments but also break through the spatial and temporal constraints of conducting experiments. In the last two years, we have formulated an innovative low-cost and open-source approach for developing online experiments which are furthermore converted into self-contained courseware for students’ self-regulated learning. Through the Internet, students can readily set and control the Arduino-based platform for conducting the experiments in their smart phones, tablets or computers at anytime and anywhere by using a web browser without installing any bulky and/or proprietary plugins.

Two online experiments and related courseware have been developed and refined, namely:
(1) Lighting technology
(2) Landfill gas production.

The first one aims to develop learners' in-depth understanding of the energy efficiency of different lighting devices and their characteristics through real-time hands-on scientific investigation activities. Students will find out the several physical properties of each of the four types of lamps and students will also need to compare of relative performance of different lamps for making the best consumer choice. For the second online experiment, it is featured with a long-time automatic collection of data for observing and analyzing the changes in gas levels and pH level throughout the fermentation process with 4 sets of different methane inducers. This experiment will develop students’ habit for monitoring the chemical over a long period of time and help them get an in-depth understanding of the landfill gas production by comparing the methane, carbon dioxide and pH levels for different inducers. Those two sets of online experiments and related courseware have recently been applied to two STEM courses, namely:
(A) Application of Web Technology in Science and
(B) Environmental and Community Engagement: Theories and Practices.

The course:
(A) lecturer comments that the online experiments well match with the learning objectives of his course, helping to develop students good awareness of the application of technologies in science education and in-depth understanding of the interdisciplinary features of related topics in STEM education.
For the course (B), the course lecturer remarks that the online experiments can provide students with essential scientific knowledge in achieving sustainability and furthermore, the conduction of the online experiments is considered as a kind of public participation.

A third online experiment is to investigate the effect of different color of the light on the rate of photosynthesis and it is being used in the Ecosystem and Impacts of Biotechnology course. The course lecturer anticipates that the online experiment can equip students with opportunities to apply the skills of scientific investigation in ecological studies and furthermore provide demonstration and insights of how technology could be applied to facilitate students’ learning as closely geared with the programme objectives.

In the conference, we will present the essential features of the online experiments and the results collected from students’ evaluation and feedback on their learning experience in this new mode of self-learning on the Internet.

Keywords:

Online experiments, remote-controlled experiments, science education, STEM education.