Stories
Slash Boxes
Comments

SoylentNews is people

posted by Fnord666 on Saturday May 30 2020, @08:22AM   Printer-friendly
from the remote-hands-on dept.

Phys.org:

When lockdown measures were announced in France and other countries, secondary-school teachers and university professors had to quickly make the transition from classroom teaching to remote education. As a result, practical work was often abandoned—experiments were no longer possible without a lab, test tubes, oscilloscopes and other equipment.

To overcome this problem, some educators used digital simulations, while others analysed existing data. But people familiar with experimental science know that simulations and simple analysis do not replace the lab bench and real experiments. The role of science is to help us to understand everyday phenomena and "real" experiments are absolutely essential.

As academics working in the field of physics, we have been reflecting about developing new forms of practical work that allows for greater student autonomy for several years now. At Université de Bordeaux and Paris-Saclay, we asked our students to create their own experiment, and in some cases, to conduct them independently with smartphones or Arduino boards, an open-source solution for experiments with electronics.

Lockdown was a great chance to test autonomous practical work, so we jumped on it immediately. During the two months of French lockdown—it began on March 17 and ended May 11—we adapted and continued to teach using experiments without compromising the quality of content. These "life-size" tests convinced us that it is possible to remotely conduct lessons with experiments for both secondary-school teachers and higher-education professors. We have even observed very positive aspects of this new approach. It changes the student's relationship with science and with their teachers.

Professor Felix Hoenikker did fine with bits of string and children's toys when he developed Ice-nine, so why can't we?


Original Submission

 
This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.
Display Options Threshold/Breakthrough Mark All as Read Mark All as Unread
The Fine Print: The following comments are owned by whoever posted them. We are not responsible for them in any way.
  • (Score: 1) by Boxbot on Saturday May 30 2020, @10:42PM

    by Boxbot (10929) on Saturday May 30 2020, @10:42PM (#1001198)

    Having the students create their own experiment is possibly one of the best teaching methods for experimental science.

    It would be good if the school or university can at least supply a basic set of measurement tools to the students, even if it's just kitchen scales, thermometers, rulers, and phone video cameras.

    To teach scientific method and communication, teachers can divide the experiments into two rounds. In the first round, the student runs the experiment and submits a report with the method used and results found. In the second round, each student has to attempt to replicate the experiment of a different student based on the report.

    --
    did I ... did I miss anything important?