LabLife 3D: Teaching Biotechnology and Chemistry to Engineering Studensts by using Second Life

Teaching life sciences, including the biosciences and chemistry, within the engineering curriculum, is a challenge. On one hand, students in the engineering programs are required to master a broad base of mathematics, physics, computer science and other engineering disciplines. On the other hand, majoring in the life sciences requires an equally challenging command of fact and practical instrumentation. Practical skills are a part of the core competencies of engineering students with microbiology and chemistry majors, where skills and experience are gained through extensive laboratory experimentation. However, laboratory courses are often burdened by a) large class sizes Joint International IGIP-SEFI Annual Conference 2010, 19t 22 September 2010, Trnava, Slovakia b) heavy expenses for modern and safe equipment, facilities and reagents, and c) overlap with other courses, which sets constraints on student schedules. Moreover, although “learning by doing” is the ultimate goal of practical laboratory classes, it is evident that many engineering curricula do not allow for enough space and time for the learning experience to mature and many students pass laboratory classes without developing a critical thought process of connecting theory (lectures/teaching) with practice (laboratory). Consequently, we have attempted to bridge the gap between theory and practice by creating a new concept of learning by using the 3D Second Life – platform. The aims are to 1) engage students to experiment and critically evaluate the inherent behavior of biological or chemical material in a shared local space 2) facilitate such engagement by experimentation in a learning space in Second Life and thus conducting experimentation in a risk-free environment, and to 3) offer the possibility for other, non-biosciences or chemistry majors across other disciplines to take part in experimentation, which will help in visualizing difficult content and contributes to their understanding of experimental work. To do so, we have built a Second Life laboratory in the Aalto University archipelago, which has been designed for microbiology and/or chemistry experimentation. The aim is to offer a new concept of blended learning, which engages the student in a non-imposing environment to reflect, design and analyze experimental phenomena via virtual objects, which encourage the development of stronger conceptual understanding and provide visualization for complex and demanding content.