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Microbiome study requires both molecular techniques and bioinformatics skills, which are challenging for biologists to participate in this growing field. To introduce microbiome concepts and skills to students, a 6-week wet-lab and bioinformatics course for undergraduates was implemented through the project-based learning (PBL) approach. In the saliva microbiome project, students collected their saliva samples, performed DNA extraction and PCR amplification, followed by metagenomic analysis to compare the diversity and abundances of microbes among samples. First, students are required to practice molecular techniques and bioinformatics analysis skills in a virtual simulation lab. To our knowledge, our study is the first one to incorporate a virtual lab into microbiome experience. Then, students applied their recently acquired skills to produce and analyze their own 16S amplicon sequencing data and reported their results via a scientific report. The student learning outcomes show that the Virtual lab can improve students' laboratory techniques and research capabilities. Moreover, a simple pipeline to analyze 16S rRNA gene amplicon sequencing data is introduced in a step-by-step manner that helps students to develop analysis skills. This project can be modified as either a virtual course or a module within another course such as microbiology, molecular biology, and bioinformatics. Our study provides evidence on the positive impact of virtual labs on learning outcomes in undergraduate science education., (© 2023 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.)

Since the start of the 2019 coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, many microbiology lab activities have been conducted online. We produced a simple PCR primer design and virtual PCR activity for introductory students to use as part of an online laboratory course or as an independent activity in a traditional laboratory setting. Most students are aware of basic PCR concepts but struggle with important details, such as how PCR is specific and how false positives and negatives can be generated in a diagnostic test that is not well designed. This exercise helps students review molecular biology concepts within the context of a test that was commonplace during the COVID-19 pandemic. We found that nursing students and Biology and non-Biology majors were able to complete the worksheet as a group with minimal instructor input. This could be used as a stand-alone activity, as a warm-up for other bioinformatics exercises, or as a prelab activity for actual in-lab quantitative PCR experiments, such as the one offered by miniPCR bio. With minor modifications, it could also be used with more advanced students., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Mwakalundwa et al.)

The recent SARS-CoV2 pandemic has put a great challenge on university courses. Electronics teaching requires real laboratory experiences for students, which cannot be realized if access to physical infrastructures is prohibited. A possible solution would be to distribute to students, at home, electronics equipment suitable for laboratory experiments, but no reasonable product is currently available off-the-shelf. In this paper, the design and development of a very-low-cost experimental board tailored to these needs is presented. It contains both programmable prototyping circuitry based on a microcontroller and an FPGA and a set of measurement instruments, similar to the ones found on a typical lab desk, such as a digital storage oscilloscope, multimeter, analog signal generator, logic state analyzer and digital pattern generator. A first board, suitable for analog and digital electronics experiments, has been designed and manufactured, and is described in this paper. The board has been successfully used in master's degrees and PhD courses.

The COVID-19 pandemic has heavily impacted academics' professional and personal lives, forcing many research groups (labs) to shift from an academic system primarily based on in-person work to an almost full-time remote workforce during lockdowns. Labs are generally characterized by a strong lab culture that underpins all research and social activities of its members. Lab culture traditionally builds on the pillars of in-person communication, knowledge sharing, and all social and professional activities that promote collaboration, team building, scientific productivity, and well-being. Here, we use the experience of our research group facing the COVID-19 pandemic to illustrate how proactively reinforcing lab culture and its positive outcomes have been essential to our lab when transitioning from an in-person to a remote lab environment, and through its ongoing evolution toward a hybrid remote/in-person model. We argue that the proactive promotion of lab culture in research groups can foster academic resilience during crises, helping research groups to maintain their capacity to conduct scientific activities while preserving a sustainable life/work balance and a healthy mental condition., Competing Interests: The authors declare no competing interests., (© 2022 The Authors. Ecology and Evolution published by John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Although various resources exist for facilitating online laboratory courses, stitching together disparate elements from multiple sources may not be sufficient to meet the learning goals of a given course. For example, our Biology Project Lab course introduces students to an array of fundamental laboratory techniques, and the COVID-19 pandemic necessitated the development of virtual laboratory options for remote learners. We anticipated that the logic and application of the course material-a multiday sequence of connected experiments-would be lost if we combined prefabricated labs from a variety of sources. Moreover, we wanted students to familiarize themselves with our laboratory equipment, while providing interactive experiences rather than passive video demonstrations. Therefore, we used Storyline 360 to create a series of interactive lab modules to accommodate students who were remote or in quarantine. These online labs were integrated with our learning management system (LMS) and included exercises such as video demonstrations, short answer responses, image selection, drag-and-drop activities, and organizing procedural steps. Our simulations can be shared with instructors and customized for their own interactive labs, or instructors can build course-specific modules from scratch using the Storyline 360 platform. Although the simulations could not fully replicate the in-person learning experience, students appreciated being able to watch and participate in lab activities and recommended that the labs be retained as supplemental activities in future semesters. Storyline 360 thus offers an effective platform for developing virtual laboratory modules which may be widely adapted to suit the specific needs of a variety of laboratory courses., Competing Interests: The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2022 Sweeney et al.)

Virtual labs provide space for students to iteratively test, observe, and revise their understanding so as to improve their scientific literacy. However, one of the challenges that students face is that they need to think and act like scientists so as to be sensitively alert to methodological flaws and various sources of error. This study thus compared the effect of two instructional approaches using a virtual lab to enhance students' scientific literacy. Before students were given the opportunity to conduct science inquiries with the virtual lab, they were required to critique problematic inquiry cases (the critique group) or watch teachers' demonstrations (the teacher demonstration group) before taking part in the inquiry. By analyzing data from 50 middle school students, this study found that the effect of applying virtual labs can be augmented by an instructional design that engages students in critiquing experiments prior to their inquiry with the virtual lab. This study also found a limitation of the use of virtual labs in helping students transfer what they have learned from the teacher's demonstration to new inquiry contexts. A close relation among scientific literacy post-test scores, critiquing performance, and inquiry performance in the inquiry activity was detected, suggesting that student critiquing prior to inquiry is in alignment with the goal of developing students' inquiry skills and scientific literacy with virtual labs., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestAll authors of this manuscript declare that we have no conflict of interest., (© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. 2022.)

Virtual labs allow researchers to design high-throughput and macro-level experiments that are not feasible in traditional in-person physical lab settings. Despite the increasing popularity of online research, researchers still face many technical and logistical barriers when designing and deploying virtual lab experiments. While several platforms exist to facilitate the development of virtual lab experiments, they typically present researchers with a stark trade-off between usability and functionality. We introduce Empirica: a modular virtual lab that offers a solution to the usability-functionality trade-off by employing a "flexible defaults" design strategy. This strategy enables us to maintain complete "build anything" flexibility while offering a development platform that is accessible to novice programmers. Empirica's architecture is designed to allow for parameterizable experimental designs, reusable protocols, and rapid development. These features will increase the accessibility of virtual lab experiments, remove barriers to innovation in experiment design, and enable rapid progress in the understanding of human behavior., (© 2021. The Author(s).)

A study with K-9 Greek students was conducted in order to evaluate how the declarative knowledge acquisition was affected by incorporating Arduino experiments in secondary Chemistry Education. A Digital Application (DA) that blends the use of the Arduino sensors' experiments with digital educational material, including Virtual Labs (VLs), was constructed from scratch to be used through the Interactive Board (IB) as a learning tool by three different student groups ( N  = 154). In the first stage of the learning process, all groups used only the digital material of the DA. In the second stage, the three groups used different learning tools of the DA. Through the IB, the first group used Arduino experiments, the second one the VLs, and the third only static visualizations. A pre- to post-test statistical analysis demonstrated that the first two groups were equivalent in regard to achievement in declarative knowledge tests and of a higher level than the third group. Therefore, it can be concluded that conducting Arduino experiments in a mixed virtual-physical environment results in equivalent learning gains in declarative knowledge as those attained by using VL experimentation through the IB., Competing Interests: Conflict of InterestThe authors declare that they have no conflict of interest., (© The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer Nature B.V. part of Springer Nature 2021.)

Virtual laboratory activities are flexible approaches to engage undergraduate students in scientific practices during the COVID-19 pandemic. By utilizing online simulations, students can conduct virtual experiments on important biochemical reactions that occur during photosynthesis. The learning module described here provides students with this experience and was implemented for first-year students in a virtual summer bridge program. It introduces new biochemistry majors and nonmajors to the discipline, and it is based on an in-person photosynthesis laboratory module taught for the summer bridge program before the emergence of COVID-19. This virtual laboratory module can be readily adapted for use during the academic year in introductory biochemistry courses., (© 2020 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.)

In this article, technologies that have been widely adopted and used in the field of allied health education in recent years are identified and introduced. These technologies may be distinguished based on education content and approach into the following three categories: online-offline digital education, which uses massive open online courses, CD-ROM, and similar learning tools; mobile learning, which uses mobile phones, tablets, and other devices to connect to the Internet of things; and digital simulation education, which uses virtual reality, virtual patient simulation, serious gaming, and gamification. Preliminary positive findings regarding the effectiveness of using the above technologies have been reported in the literature. Therefore, to better understand the impact of new technology, it is recommended that relevant medical/nursing educators should continue introducing practical courses to evaluate their impact on learning. However, funding limitations and the declining birthrate / population aging are two key threats to education that remain to be effectively addressed and overcome.

Suspended on-site instruction during the COVID-19 created an exceptional challenge for teaching hands-on laboratory classes. We designed an online laboratory activity using computational biology techniques to overcome this issue. This set of online exercises introduces bioinformatics skills into existing curricula in the form of guided tutorials based on molecular data on SARS-CoV-2 virus., (© 2020 International Union of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology.)

Laboratory classes have consistently played a crucial role in science education for many years. Common to all labs is the need to understand essential lab techniques. Students often lack this foundational understanding, and this can lead to poor performance or confidence (Gallagher et al. 2008) Virtual labs have been found to be effective in promoting active learning and increasing performance (Lewis 2014 ). In this project, a virtual lab for preparing a phosphate-buffered saline solution (PBS) was created to educate undergraduate biology students on essential laboratory techniques. The virtual lab included animations and interactive elements to visually communicate each step Content experts provided input on the accuracy of the scientific content throughout development. Focus group testing with biology teaching assistants (TAs) at the University of Illinois at Chicago was conducted to assess the potential effectiveness of the virtual lab.

This article was migrated. The article was marked as recommended. Teaching basic science in the medical school remains a challenge, and the lack of appropriate resources is one of important limitation. Building up such resources is difficult, time-costly and does not always result in effective, solid and student-centered instruction. This "personal view" aims to stimulate scientists and scientific journals to engage with new ideas and innovative resources for biomedical education. The time has now come to plan research and education as mutually beneficial activities, supporting each other rather than competing with each other. Scientific research should be converted into digital learning resources hosted by scientific journals on a regular basis, and subjected to peer-review to ensure quality and integration of contents, appropriate cognitive approach and rigorous criteria of selection. Turning science into teaching represents an investment with mutual benefits, for students and educators. Academic educators can produce resources to face the teaching burden, and gather the opportunity to increase personal productivity. Students can take advantage from being engaged in innovative learning environments where educators act as catalysts for learning, instead of just transmitters of knowledge., (Copyright: © 2019 Ausoni S.)

Background: During recent years, X-ray microtomography (micro-CT) has seen an increasing use in biological research areas, such as functional morphology, taxonomy, evolutionary biology and developmental research. Micro-CT is a technology which uses X-rays to create sub-micron resolution images of external and internal features of specimens. These images can then be rendered in a three-dimensional space and used for qualitative and quantitative 3D analyses. However, the online exploration and dissemination of micro-CT datasets are rarely made available to the public due to their large size and a lack of dedicated online platforms for the interactive manipulation of 3D data. Here, the development of a virtual micro-CT laboratory (Micro-CT vlab ) is described, which can be used by everyone who is interested in digitisation methods and biological collections and aims at making the micro-CT data exploration of natural history specimens freely available over the internet., New Information: The Micro-CT vlab offers to the user virtual image galleries of various taxa which can be displayed and downloaded through a web application. With a few clicks, accurate, detailed and three-dimensional models of species can be studied and virtually dissected without destroying the actual specimen. The data and functions of the Micro-CT vlab can be accessed either on a normal computer or through a dedicated version for mobile devices.

Background: Personalised instruction is increasingly recognised as crucial for efficacious learning today. Our seminal work delineates and elaborates on the principles, development and implementation of a specially-designed adaptive, virtual laboratory., Aims: We strived to teach laboratory skills associated with lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) enzyme kinetics to 2nd-year biochemistry students using our adaptive learning platform. Pertinent specific aims were to:(1)design/implement a web-based lesson to teach lactate dehydrogenase(LDH) enzyme kinetics to 2nd-year biochemistry students(2)determine its efficacious in improving students' comprehension of enzyme kinetics(3)assess their perception of its usefulness/manageability(vLab versus Conventional Tutorial)., Methods: Our tools were designed using HTML5 technology. We hosted the program on an adaptive e-learning platform (AeLP). Provisions were made to interactively impart informed laboratory skills associated with measuring LDH enzyme kinetics. A series of e-learning methods were created. Tutorials were generated for interactive teaching and assessment., Results: The learning outcomes herein were on par with that from a conventional classroom tutorial. Student feedback showed that the majority of students found the vLab learning experience "valuable"; and the vLab format/interface "well-designed". However, there were a few technical issues with the 1st roll-out of the platform., Conclusions: Our pioneering effort resulted in productive learning with the vLab, with parity with that from a conventional tutorial. Our contingent discussion emphasises not only the cornerstone advantages, but also the shortcomings of the AeLP method utilised. We conclude with an astute analysis of possible extensions and applications of our methodology.

Classroom-level neuroscience experiments vary from detailed protocols involving chemical, physiological and imaging techniques to computer-based modeling. The application of Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is revolutionizing the current laboratory scenario in terms of active learning especially for distance education cases. Virtual web-based labs are an asset to educational institutions confronting economic issues in maintaining equipment, facilities and other conditions needed for good laboratory practice. To enhance education, we developed virtual laboratories in neuroscience and explored their first-level use in (Indian) University education in the context of developing countries. Besides using interactive animations and remotely-triggered experimental devices, a detailed mathematical simulator was implemented on a web-based software platform. In this study, we focused on the perceptions of technology adoption for a virtual neurophysiology laboratory as a new pedagogy tool for complementing college laboratory experience. The study analyses the effect of virtual labs on users assessing the relationship between cognitive, social and teaching presence. Combining feedback from learners and teachers, the study suggests enhanced motivation for students and improved teaching experience for instructors.