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Online Biology Pre-Labs
5/30/2003
The Prelabs are tightly connected to the actual laboratory manual. In fact, the procedures in the virtual experiments are nearly identical to the lab experiments. The Prelab units include three on Macromolecules, Use of a Spectrophotometer, DNA isolation, Osmosis, Enzyme Activity, Photosynthetic Pigment Chromatography an Chloroplast Isolation, Cellular Respiration, Mitosis and Meiosis, a Chi-Square Analysis of Corn Genetics, as well as a Hardy-Weinberg analysis of protective coloration data. These are very standard general biology labs. In most of the Prelab exercises, the students collect or generate data and perform statistical analyses as they will do in the actual lab. All the exercises have self-grading quizzes and a receipt page is provided upon completion of the Prelab for the student to present to their lab instructor.
Satisfied Students
A student survey offered after completion of the course each semester indicated
near unanimous satisfaction (more than 95 percent of about 300 students) with
the Prelab exercises. This was a little surprising considering extra time and
work had been added to the students’ educational "burden." The students
indicated that they thought using the Prelabs probably improved both their lab
skills and their grade. In particular, they felt that Prelabs prepared them
for the practical aspects of laboratory sessions and the interactive quizzes
gave them better feedback prior to lab. While the preliminary data have failed
to show any statistical difference in learning outcomes between students who
used the Prelab and students who did not, student satisfaction is a worthy result
in and of itself.
A few typical (truly) positive comments follow:
- "I thought that the Prelabs were a big help in learning more about the lab before we had to actually do it, and also it made me read the lab before I came to class."
- "I'll admit, sometimes I dreaded taking the time to do the pre-lab, but after the first few, I realized what a HUGE help they were in preparation for the quiz and for our knowledge in performing the lab. I think it's a great idea and very helpful to those who actually take the time to read it. Thanks."
- "I honestly think that it helps to visually see things in the pre-labs prior to actually doing them."
- "I found the Prelabs to be very helpful when I studied for my first test. I redid every one of them and finally understood what all the rest of the material was saying."
The data the students generated, quiz scores, and some other demographic information are captured in a "back-end" for monitoring Prelab functionality and improving the exercises. Many of the students repeated the Prelab until they scored full marks. We allow the Prelab exercises and the quizzes to be repeated indefinitely, since the primary purpose of the Prelabs is preparation and mastery.
A Frequent Lament
One prevalent, and again surprising, comment was that the Prelab exercises were
too much like the actual labs. Many students felt performing the lab exercise
was redundant and unnecessary after completing the Prelabs. Comments like these
form the basis for our willingness to consider and attempt the next step, wholly
online lab exercises.
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