Designing Virtual Laboratories - Decarboxylation Reactions, Vacuum Distillation and Virus Identification by PCR in the Lablife3D Second Life Laboratory

Tuomas Kangasniemi, Sebastian Olkinuora, Pekka Joensuu, Olli Natri, Pekka Qvist, Martti Ketola, Hanna Virtanen, Jaana Brusin, Marko Närhi, Reija Jokela, Eero Palomäki, Hannu Tiitu, Katrina Nordström

2013

Abstract

Practical skills are one of the core competencies in technology, engineering and the natural sciences. However, the busy curriculum in many universities lacks space and time for the learning-by-doing experience to mature. Therefore, we have designed and implemented a virtual laboratory, LabLife3D, to Second Life, to bridge the gap between theory and practice. To date, we have designed five virtual laboratory exercises in the biological sciences and chemistry there: a virus isolation experiment, a laboratory safety tutorial, organic chemistry simulations on (a) decarboxylation reactions and (b) vacuum distillation, and a molecular biology simulation on identifying a virus with polymerase chain reaction (PCR). This paper presents their design process and outlines their contents. General design objectives in virtual laboratories are also discussed, along with laboratory simulations in Second Life by other groups. All the exercises have been designed in accordance with content-specific learning goals and outcomes, which are discussed. In addition to creation of contents, we have also recently studied the usability of our simulations and conducted a student assessment. Preliminary results of the student assessment are presented.

Paper Citation

in Harvard Style

Kangasniemi T., Olkinuora S., Joensuu P., Natri O., Qvist P., Ketola M., Virtanen H., Brusin J., Närhi M., Jokela R., Palomäki E., Tiitu H. and Nordström K. (2013). Designing Virtual Laboratories - Decarboxylation Reactions, Vacuum Distillation and Virus Identification by PCR in the Lablife3D Second Life Laboratory . In Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Computer Supported Education - Volume 1: CSEDU, ISBN 978-989-8565-53-2, pages 661-672. DOI: 10.5220/0004353606610672

in Bibtex Style

@conference{csedu13,
author={Tuomas Kangasniemi and Sebastian Olkinuora and Pekka Joensuu and Olli Natri and Pekka Qvist and Martti Ketola and Hanna Virtanen and Jaana Brusin and Marko Närhi and Reija Jokela and Eero Palomäki and Hannu Tiitu and Katrina Nordström},
title={Designing Virtual Laboratories - Decarboxylation Reactions, Vacuum Distillation and Virus Identification by PCR in the Lablife3D Second Life Laboratory},
booktitle={Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Computer Supported Education - Volume 1: CSEDU,},
year={2013},
pages={661-672},
publisher={SciTePress},
organization={INSTICC},
doi={10.5220/0004353606610672},
isbn={978-989-8565-53-2},
}

in EndNote Style

TY - CONF
JO - Proceedings of the 5th International Conference on Computer Supported Education - Volume 1: CSEDU,
TI - Designing Virtual Laboratories - Decarboxylation Reactions, Vacuum Distillation and Virus Identification by PCR in the Lablife3D Second Life Laboratory
SN - 978-989-8565-53-2
AU - Kangasniemi T.
AU - Olkinuora S.
AU - Joensuu P.
AU - Natri O.
AU - Qvist P.
AU - Ketola M.
AU - Virtanen H.
AU - Brusin J.
AU - Närhi M.
AU - Jokela R.
AU - Palomäki E.
AU - Tiitu H.
AU - Nordström K.
PY - 2013
SP - 661
EP - 672
DO - 10.5220/0004353606610672