As an Advanced Biology teacher at Gymnasium Fabritianum, Tamara Ehrhardt teaches genetics, everything from protein biosynthesis, molecules chemicals, mutations, PCR, gel electrophoresis and inheritance. And she knows that all of these concepts are challenging for students to grasp. So to help students understand these better, she started using Labster in her teaching. “Labster helped significantly with teaching genetics. It is the very first topic the students have. And usually, in the beginning, it’s difficult to motivate the students because the content is really tough. It’s a lot to learn, lots of jargon and technical terms. But with Labster getting into it was much easier for the students,” she said. 

Read more about:

• How Gymnasium Fabritianum benefited from didactic storytelling and gamification incorporated in Labster simulations
• How the authentic experience of Labster adds to teaching science
• How Labster simulations contribute to long-term knowledge assimilation 

Tamara Ehrhardt - teacher of English and biology at Gymnasium Fabritianum in Krefeld, Germany. A gymnasium is the German equivalent of high school education, year five until 12.

Digitalisation of learning

As an Advanced Biology teacher at Gymnasium Fabritianum, Tamara Ehrhardt teaches genetics, everything from protein biosynthesis, molecules chemicals, mutations, PCR, gel electrophoresis and inheritance. And she knows that all of these concepts are challenging for students to grasp. So to help students understand these better, she turned to Labster in 2019.

Tamara and her colleagues were convinced that digital learning has become more important, even before the COVID-19 pandemic, as the students are used to technology in their everyday life. “We thought that with Labster we could distribute this digital lifestyle to the students [...] because the students are using social media, and sometimes iPads in the lessons. COVID-19 has positively improved the whole digital life and accelerated the technical conditions at schools in Germany,” added Tamara.

Number of students: 38 students, grades 10-12 high school.

Simulations used: Primarily Genetics, Biology and Ecology.

An authentic experience

Tamara has pointed out that Labster simulations offer a very authentic experience, too. Every detail is directly adapted from the real world, such as the brand names, products used, and applied processes. “I think, as far as I know, Labster is the only simulation that is realistic and authentic. We saw this from the products used within the simulation. All the brands showcased in simulations exist in real life. [...] Every step you do, you always have to change the tube and so on. We found that this was really authentic, and I think this authenticity was one of the major reasons for us to use Labster,” said Ehrhardt.

By seeing people working in the lab or the scientific field while playing Labster simulations, the students, especially at the high school level, “might also have a chance to start thinking about what they want to do in the future,” explained Tamara.

“Labster helped significantly with teaching genetics. It is the very first topic the students have. And usually, in the beginning, it’s difficult to motivate the students because the content is really tough. It’s a lot to learn, lots of jargon and technical terms. But with Labster getting into it was much easier for the students.” — Tamara Ehrhardt, Gymnasium Fabritianum

Long-term knowledge and knowledge organisation

Tamara was happy with the learning outcomes. “I had a feeling that Labster had a significant impact on the students’ knowledge and the way they organised the whole processes and remembered it,” she added. Tamara Ehrhardt believes that the knowledge the students assimilated is very long-term, mainly because the learning happened hands-on. “I feel like that it’s really sustainable knowledge. [...] Because you see things when you do the simulations, and I mean, we know that with hands-on learning, you just remember things better and learning becomes much easier and also much more effective,” explained Ehrhardt.

Additionally, in biology simulations, Labster allows for switching between different organisational levels. This way of visualising science has helped the students understand the structures better and organise their newly acquired knowledge. “Switching in the different organisational levels and biology is important because sometimes you are in the cell, sometimes you’re out of the cell, then you are at the organ. And then you’re doing something with the whole body. I believe that the students’ understanding of the cell level and so on was really good because, in Labster, you can zoom into things and then zoom out. I think because of this, the students can imagine [the scientific concepts] very well,” said Tamara.

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