Teaching second-year biochemistry students the principles of an enzyme-catalyzed spectrophotometric assay with an online lab simulator

Abstract

The teaching of laboratory skills to undergraduate students is central to all experimental sciences. In this setting, students must understand the experimental procedures as well as the fundamental principle(s) being demonstrated, all while learning within a limited time. Other limiting factors include access to equipment and reagents, resulting in students frequently working in pairs or small groups to complete experiments, and consequently, students gain limited experience in the practical techniques. In addition, due to competing subjects and a filled curriculum, there is typically limited or no opportunity for students to repeat a laboratory exercise. As a result, the time pressure forces students to focus on completing the laboratory exercise without engaging at a deeper level with the concepts and principles being demonstrated. This can result in deficiencies in student understanding principles as well as developing the required proficiency in hands-on skills with equipment. To overcome these issues, we implemented an online laboratory data simulator to replicate the laboratory quantification of ethanol in simulated driver blood samples. This approach allowed students to attempt the exercise as often and whenever they chose, while still faithfully replicating a traditional laboratory setting. We implemented this approach across two Australian universities using a mixed-methods approach and assessed the impact of the simulator on student learning of biochemistry lab-related concepts. Based on our findings, we suggest that this online approach can effectively teach fundamental laboratory concepts to students while eliminating many of the constraints of hands-on laboratory classes.