Virtual
Lab: Teaching Science and Stat Online Through Problem-Solving Interactivity
Tom Malloy & Jake Jensen
Department of
Psychology, University of Utah
Abstract:
This online JAVA
program run dynamically off a database allows students to explore a series of
interrelated research puzzles in a virtual lab setting. They gain experience in solving high-level
theoretical questions (such as "How does the brain function?") by
designing a series of small research projects.
For example, students can research the effects of increasing blood
oxygen supply to the brain on brain development. Or students can research how learning second and third languages
affects brain development. The virtual
lab is rich in choices of research question.
It is up to students to choose a series of research questions to
investigate in the virtual lab. Then
based on their results, they must draw high-level conclusion about, for
example, brain function.
A Virtual Lab
authoring tool allows professors to generate simulated realities (statistical
equations) which generate data uniquely for each student. As is the case with real researchers, no two
students get exactly the same results even when they ask the same question.
After conducting a
series of virtual studies in the virtual lab, students must draw overall
conclusions. After a series of studies,
they can compare their conclusions with other students in collaborative groups
similar to scientific conventions. The
teacher can also elect to tell students how the virtual reality was
programmed. From these kinds of
experiences students can determine if their research strategy was useful in
discovering the principles underlying the virtual reality.
By repeating this
process, students gain direct experience about how research works or doesn't
work. A teacher cannot give this kind
of independent experience in a lecture or, even, in a one-on-one tutorial. In
this sense, through new media interactivity, Virtual Lab "adds value"
to the learning process beyond what a teacher can do. The Virtual Lab gives students the compressed experience of
making systematic research strategy decisions with the goal of solving a
complex theoretical question.
Even in the
time-intensive mentor/apprentice approach which occurs when students work in a
teacher's research lab such a process, though of very high quality, could take
years. Virtual Lab is an especially
excellent preparation for students who want to work as undergraduate assistants
in research labs. The professor who
directs a lab could program simulations of the his or her ongoing research into
Virtual Lab. Then students could solve research issues in the Virtual Lab as
form of training and as a way to get deep understanding of the issues addressed
by the real lab.
Benefit in Attending Session:
Virtual Lab is
currently available free of charge to teachers. Teachers can customize the research questions to their own
courses. At the poster session you be
able to evaluate this set of online resources which use new-media interactivity
to teach scientific and statistical reasoning.
Tested for over 2
years by hundreds of students.
PRIMARY AUTHOR'S INFORMATION
Tom Malloy, PhD
University of Utah
Department of
Psychology
390 S. 1530 E. RM 502
Salt Lake City, UT
84112-0251
Telephone Number:
801-581-7865
Fax Number:
801-581-5841
E-mail Address: malloy@psych.utah.edu
Web Site: http://www.psych.utah.edu/malloy/index.html
CO-AUTHORS' INFORMATION
Gary "Jake"
Jensen
University of Utah
Department of
Psychology
390 S. 1530 E. RM 502
Salt Lake City, UT
84112-0251
Telephone Number(s):
801-581-5841
Fax Number(s):
801-581-5841
E-mail Address(es): jensen@psych.utah.edu
Web Site(s): http://www.utah.edu/stat