Virtual Labs to the Rescue
Experimental design is something that many middle school students have trouble doing independently. For years I have done the same lab to teach this concept to my students. The students love the lab, but I don’t love the results. This year I decided to try teaching experimental design with a virtual lab. My students chose to do the sound advice lab from Discovery science. Their mission was to find out if listening to rock music on an MP3 player causes hearing damage. My students used the explore section to research sounds and to learn what decibel levels are. They learned how to read and graphs that demonstrated what level of sound decibels can damage hearing.. Then the students set out to design an experiment to test their hypothesis about the damage that MP3 players can cause if played at a loud volume.The lab was relevant to their world. The virtual lab made it easy for me to have 80 students researching, testing and writing at the same time. When the students finished writing up their experimental design plan they turned it for me to critique. In the past I wrot notes to my students about what they did right or wrong on their experimental design plan. This year I used my Ipod touch to give each student an individual critique. Using garage band I made a simple podcast file of what the student did right and wrong on the design write up. I emailed the podcast file to my students. They listened to their crtique in class and then fixed any parts of the design that was incorrect.The students did the best job they have ever done on designing an experiment. Many of them told me that this method of conferencing helped them know how to fix their writing mistakes or design flaws. I haven’t felt this good about teaching scientific writing in a long time. Try a virtual lab this year and you’ll say why I say: “Virtual lab to to the rescue.
