Combining virtual simulations with take-home projects as a replacement for face-to-face labs in introductory biology laboratory courses

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic and the stay-at-home order implemented by the New York State Governor, the introductory undergraduate biology courses were changed to an at-home remote learning modality. To provide conceptual learning and hands-on experience, the second semester introductory biology laboratory course utilised a multi-modal learning approach through the use of take-home experiments with virtual labs and meetings. This study aims to determine whether learning outcomes in conceptual understanding, hands-on experience, writing skills, and critical thinking are enhanced. There is little data showing the impact of take-home experiments on learning and in combination with virtual labs. Although student preference is for face-to-face learning, the average lab report, exams, and final grades were significantly increased during remote learning. The grade increase may be due to the repetitive nature of instruction in combination with the independent at-home experiments. This multi-modal approach seems to enhance conceptual learning and suggests that the combination of take-home experiments with virtual learning improves the core learning objectives in the second semester introductory biology labs. © 2022 Royal Society of Biology.