A & P Students at Northumbria Become Active Learners With Labster Virtual Labs

Simulations used: 

• Animal Physiology
• Cardiorespiratory Physiology: How can seals dive deep for so long?
• Diabetes
• Parkinson's Disease

Challenge:

‍Stuart was interested in finding new ways to teach. Those in A&P who are eager to learn are also looking for more means to engage with the content because he could only offer so many options.

Solution:

Labster is a supplement to classroom and lab learning. It has enabled Stuart to offer his classes additional ways to learn Extreme Physiology, reinforcing what they’re learning. He’s used it as an interactive homework tool.

Results:

A&P students were able to utilize Labster to write lab reports, prepare for wet labs, and engage with a topic they’d never have had access to before — animal science.

An Interview with Dr. Stuart Goodall 

How do you use Labster in your course?

"I use Labster after I teach content. I sometimes rely on the simulation to cover something in more detail than I would in class. For instance, we've got the research design simulation I think is very good and there are some other simulations about cardiovascular responses to exercise. Those sessions will be very, very useful for the students when they're considering that lab report."

What type of student feedback have you received?

"They’ve found that it's just a very different way of delivering similar information. They’ve enjoyed them, especially the animal physiology ones, which were originally out of my comfort zone. We never would have used animals in our human-based work, but Labster has given us an opportunity to do that. The variety of content has really suited them."

Why is interactivity significant?

"The Labster simulations get students to do things, and they're not just sitting there consuming a webinar where their mind can drift. They become an active participant in that learning experience. Especially with the Labster simulations, you have to answer questions. You have to engage with it and have a participatory role in that learning."

How does Labster impact learning and retention?

"Students who go through the simulation might actually learn more than they would do sitting in one of our lectures because people learn in different ways, and there are some visual learners who get on really well with the simulations. Everything's done in a nice, easy chunk of information. Labster is very digestible."

How does Labster fit alongside your teaching methods and tools?

"The principles of what we teach in the classroom or the lecture theater are so well laid out in some of the Labster simulations that even if you are doing the practicals with the students face to face, I've still put them on this year to say there's an additional way of learning the content that we cover in the lecture. It reinforces learning, just from a different angle."