Abstract:

During the COVID-19 pandemic, online teaching and learning has become the new normal for almost every school around the world. However, for secondary science education that relies heavily on hands-on experimentations, such an online strategy excluding experiments may not be a perfect remedy. To incorporate science experiments for scientific inquiry in an online fashion, the introduction of different varieties of online experimentations including real-time experimental demonstration, virtual and simulated laboratory, and remote laboratory have become increasingly necessary during this period. Firstly, this paper compares the features and limitations of the three kinds of online experimentations that have been regularly adopted for the secondary science education. Secondly, this paper discusses the benefits, which include (a) accessibility for students, (b) applicability by teachers, and (c) interactivity between teacher and students and among students, through integrating YouTube Live livestreaming and Google Drive cloud-storage and synchronization into a remote laboratory using low-cost datalogging devices. This paper also illustrates the designs of two authentic and simplified remote laboratories using the livestreaming and cloud-storage technologies, which include an online investigation of the growth of seedlings in different pH, and an online scientific inquiry of the gaseous exchange of mealworms and their behaviours under different environmental conditions. Finally, the effectiveness of the use of livestreaming and cloud-storage technologies in the simplified remote laboratories are also evaluated through semi-structured interviews with the 8th grade students in a secondary school in Hong Kong. Recommendations for future research and practice on simplified remote laboratory using the livestreaming and cloud-storage technologies are also suggested.

Keywords:

Live streaming, cloud storage, online learning, remote laboratory, scientific inquiry.