Innovations in STEM education: the Go-Labfederation of online labs

Résumé En

The Go-Lab federation of online labs opens up virtual laboratories (simulation),remote laboratories (real equipment accessible at distance) and data sets fromphysical laboratory experiments (together called “online labs”) for large-scale use ineducation. In this way, Go-Lab enables inquiry-based learning that promotesacquisition of deep conceptual domain knowledge and inquiry skills, with the furtherintent of interesting students in careers in science. For students, Go-Lab offers theopportunity to perform scientific experiments with online labs in pedagogicallystructured learning spaces. Go-Lab’s inquiry learning spaces (ILSs) structure thestudents’ inquiry process through an inquiry cycle and provide students with guidancein which dedicated (and connected) scaffolds for inquiry processes play a pivotal role.Teachers can create and adapt inquiry learning phases and the associated guidance inan ILS through a simple wiki-like interface and can add scaffolds and tools to an ILSusing a straightforward drag and drop feature. Teachers can also adapt scaffolds andtools (e.g., change the language or the concepts available in a concept mapper)through an “app composer”. In creating ILSs, teachers are supported by scenarios andassociated defaults ILSs that can be used as a starting point for development. Inaddition, teachers are offered a community framework to disseminate best practicesand find mutual support. For lab-owners, Go-Lab provides open interfacing solutionsfor easily plugging in their online labs and sharing them in the Go-Lab federation ofonline labs. In its first year, Go-Lab created ILSs for thirteen online labs from different labproviders, including renowned research organizations (e.g., CERN, ESA) that participate inthe consortium. The design of these inquiry learning spaces has been evaluated throughmock-ups and prototypes with students and teachers. More advanced and later versionswill be evaluated and validated in large scale pilots. The sustainability of Go-Lab willcome from the opportunity for the larger science education community to add newonline labs and share ILSs. An open and Web-based community will capitalize on the“collective intelligence” of students, teachers, and scientists.