1. Low Budget, Hands-On Labs and Activities Your Students Can Do Offline as Part of an Online Course
Larry MacPhee
Associate Director of e-Learning
(and part time Biology instructor)
Northern Arizona University

2. Lab supplies you can mooch in New Orleans that the TSA won’t let you bring on a plane.
Larry MacPhee
Associate Director of e-Learning
(and part time Biology instructor)
Northern Arizona University

3. The Problems The Content Sometimes inadequate Lecture oriented
Often expensive
The Instructor
Part time? New Hire?
Little pedagogical training
Few engaging activities
We teach the way we were taught
Trend towards part-time, low paid instructors
I was a young science teacher once…content knowledge but no toolkit
We’re all reinventing the wheel

4. Science Literacy is IMPORTANT!
My god, bananas are full of chemicals!
Even for people who don’t go on in biology, like healthcare professionals, the general public
So much confusing/false information about diet, health
Appeals to conspiracy theories, undermines real science
We should put our best instructors in 100 level, large enrollment courses
One weird trick…
Stops hair loss
Cures diabetes
Sheds pounds
(big pharma hates this!)

5. What’s so great about labs?
Hands-on (active learning) Inquiry based (hypothesis driven) Things can go wrong (that’s ok!) Make you think (critical thinking) Labs can be fun! Put theory into practice Labs make it memorable
Labs support the lecture
Active learning is all the rage in pedagogy, but labs have been doing it for centuries

6. Online?
Q: But how can you provide an authentic laboratory experience in an unsupervised online course? (Please don’t say software simulations) A: Take the labs offline and do them in your kitchen with low cost, easy to obtain materials.
Software simulations are ok, but they only go so far
Many experienced faculty say it can’t be done
Or it can’t be done rigorously
I disagree
Fun for the whole family!

7. Commercial Kits Order a $$$ kit? Carolina eScienceLabs Science Buddies
But… DIY is cheaper, better, less “magical”
Commercial outfits happy to sell you an expensive kit
Gathering materials, mixing solutions yourself de-mystifies the process

8. A Good Example http://www.pbs.org/video/2203057166/
If you’ve only seen DNA extracted on CSI, this is a revelation

9. DIY Most of what you need is at the… Grocery Store Pharmacy
Hardware Store
Or already in your home

10. Common Household Chemicals

11. Common Kitchen Items

12. Inexpensive Equipment
For digital microscopes, maybe a purchase and re-sell program through your bookstore?

13. What about safety? Liability? Mandatory Safety Quiz
Animal Care Protocol

14. What about assessment? How do you grade it? Send me
Lab setup “selfie” or video
Results graph or data table
Responses to lab questions
Mini Lab Report
Some or all of these, as appropriate to the lab
The readers digest version of a lab report
What did you do?
Why did you do it?
What did you find?
What does it mean?

15. The Labs…
www2.nau.edu/lrm22/lessons

16. Mathematical Models JAVA is problematic (especially on Mac)
Flash is almost dead (no good on iOS)
JavaScript is useful for simple things
Solution Calculator
Unit Converter
Timeline Generator
Excel works great and lets you tinker
Data recording and error free calculations (calorie lab)
Dynamic graphing (osmosis lab regression)
Playing with variables
Predator-Prey
Species Competition