It is no news that students in STEM fields need practical experience with laboratory equipment before they move on to professional work. But for several reasons, many students may not arrive at university having completed the practical training they need, in order to feel confident in undertaking practical assessments. The reasons include large class sizes and less than enough equipment to satisfy student training needs.
在实验室工作可能是没有培训的学生的危险事件，并且不了解适当的风险评估。实验室紧密控制，因为它们包含许多潜在的化学危害和昂贵的设备，这只对学生提供额外的压力来犯错误。
At the University of Westminster, virtual labs were introduced in the attempt to overcome these obstacles. By giving students access to virtual labs, the university provided students an opportunity to experiment freely and make mistakes, freeing up many resources and giving students the experience, and thereby also confidence, to work in a real lab.
Read on to learn how Dr. Caroline Smith, Senior Lecturer and Course Leader for Biological Sciences at University of Westminster, implemented Labster in her courses, and how she and her colleagues use the virtual labs today to enhance student learning and motivation.
Getting started with virtual labs
The University of Westminster first began using Labster’s virtual labs in 2015, with funding provided by the Quintin Hogg Trust. It started out as a pilot project, where a few professors tried out the simulations in different modules to test the alignment with the learning material.
The first simulation that was tested wasHPLC.。史密斯博士发现这一主题特别适合用模拟教学，因为它为学生提供了更令人兴奋的方法，同时允许他们更快地完成HPLC机器的实验：
“It’s quite difficult to explain how you alter the conditions of the HPLC machine to students and make it exciting, so therefore it was much better for the students to work through the simulation so that they could see how altering different factors influenced the analytical chemistry.”
"Because of the animations and the way the simulations have been put together, students could alter conditions and actually step a little beyond what they would have been able to do if they’d been in the laboratory."
史密斯博士很快经历了使用模拟的一些关键优势，作为她的模块中其他教材的补充：华体会赞助ac米兰
“I think what I appreciated most when I first started using Labster was the fact that within 20-30 minutes, students could evaluate a technique that normally takes hours and is quite boring and dry. And because of the animations and the way the simulations have been put together, students could alter conditions and actually step a little beyond what they would have been able to do if they’d been in the laboratory.”
After successfully integrating HPLC into her analytical chemistry class, she and her colleagues started exploring the use of more Labster simulations.
Using virtual labs in several ways
今天，威斯敏斯特大学的教授使用模拟作为模块的集成部分。华体会赞助ac米兰他们为学生找到了几种方法来使用模拟，包括实验室和实验室的练习和考试准备。华体会赞助ac米兰
“在我的模块中，我们建议学生通过模拟工作，以准备实际课程，并巩固在较大的讲座中发出的信息。”华体会赞助ac米兰
Getting the most out of time with virtual experiments
这种使用模拟的方法是从学生那里产生了积极的反馈，他华体会赞助ac米兰说它帮助他们更好地了解了材料。很多学生都报告说，他们发现它们的模拟有用，与他们在课堂上学习的内容有关。华体会赞助ac米兰
在一段时间内完成了更多的Labster模拟后，史密斯博士开始看到更多的仿真可能性。华体会赞助ac米兰
One example was how they enabled the students to work with machines and techniques not otherwise accessible to students. For example, the students were able to work with a Next Generation Sequencing machine in the下一代测序模拟，由于成本高，学生别的否则是不可用的。对于这种技术，以及其他几个人，史密斯博士发现虚拟实验室能够实现学生在讲座中获得的理论信息。
Another thing that struck Dr. Smith as a key benefit was the time saved from doing the experiments in a virtual environment (as for example with the HPLC machine):
“Certainly for techniques where there’s quite a lot of standing around whilst experiments are incubating or you’re waiting for molecules to separate, Labster is quite beneficial because you can see it, set it up, the animation explains what’s happening, and then three hours have passed by in seconds and the student can move on to the next point in the experiment.”
发现模拟是特别有用的另一个主题是实验室健康和安全。华体会赞助ac米兰虚拟实验室似乎克服了在教导这样的话题时通常会出现的许多障碍。例如，模拟使得可以提供对时钟的实验华体会赞助ac米兰室的访问，以便学生在不影响预算的情况下访问高度专业化的设备和试剂，并且尽管有受控和安全的虚拟环境，但仍然可以让学生安全。。
Positive feedback from the students
From the students’ perspective, the main benefit of using virtual labs was that they helped the students understand the material better: “In one of our surveys we probably got 80-90% saying that the simulation had either helped them learn a lot or helped them learn some. And there are only probably a handful of respondents who have disagreed with that statement. So overwhelmingly, they are positive that it has helped to gain understanding.”
“In one of our surveys we probably got 80-90% saying that the simulation had either helped them learn a lot or helped them learn some."
史密斯博士将大部分积极反馈归因于模拟的明确目的及其与理论的密切联系。华体会赞助ac米兰从采访中，与学生一起收集反馈的大学，很明显，在模拟中存在理论的元素（例如，多项选择题）使他们更清楚他们为什么正在进行这些实验。华体会赞助ac米兰史密斯博士解释了如何帮助更多学生了解材料更好：
“In practical classes where students are working in groups, you might have some students hiding behind other students who might have prepared a little bit more, which means that those students might not really understand why they’re doing the experiment. But that doesn’t happen with the simulations because you have the multiple choice questions as you progress through the simulation, letting them better understand the fundamentals about why they’re carrying out the experiment. The students were quite positive about that element. And then there was an opportunity to go through more theory if they were a bit stuck, which they liked.”
似乎特别适合学生似乎对学生产生特别良好的另一个功能是为生活带来生化反应的动画：
“Some of the students mentioned that they really liked the animations in cloning, genetic modification and DNA, where the simulations zoom in to the molecular level and show what is happening.”
结合，理论和动画帮助学生了解材料，反过来有助于增加他们的信心。总而言之，史密斯博士发现她的学生更感兴趣，并在介绍了Labster的虚拟实验室后为实际做好了准备。
要了解如何与学生达到类似的结果，以及如何在您的科学课程中实施Labster如何，填这张表格to be contacted by a Labster representative.
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