Drs. Brown and Peterson Publish on Teaching Science Online

Dr. Patrick Brown and Dr. Jonathan Peterson, associate professors in the East Tennessee State University College of Public Health’s Department of Health Sciences, have published in The Journal of College Science Teaching.  The article,  “The Effect of Online Instruction in an Introductory Anatomy and Physiology Course and Implications for Online Laboratory Instruction in Health Field Prerequisites,” discusses implications of the trend of moving laboratory instruction into a virtual platform.

Education in science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) is increasingly online, including the laboratory components of STEM courses. Although the drivers for more online or virtual laboratory instruction only continue to push more courses in that direction, the literature across the STEM disciplines is not very convincing one way or the other as to the efficacy of online laboratory instruction. As online laboratory education trends upward in terms of enrollment and variety of course offerings, the central question remains: Is online equivalent to a traditional face-to-face lab experience?

In this study, the researchers conducted a retrospective analysis of student performance in an asynchronous online introductory Anatomy and Physiology course with about half of the students opting for a traditional face to face lab and the other half an asynchronous online lab. Although student demographics and level of preparation (incoming GPA) were nearly identical, students enrolled in the face to face laboratory section outperformed their peers in two of three course exams and in both laboratory practical exams.

The data indicate that the type of cognitive task being asked of the student is the main determinant in the efficacy of an online laboratory experience. The researchers’ experience in preparing this study suggests that for the spatial and kinesthetic tasks needed for a quality anatomy experience, there is no substitute for holding a three-dimensional specimen in one’s hands and being able to manipulate it. More work is needed to determine what other cognitive tasks are best learned in a traditional face to face environment, and what improvements could be made in online laboratory learning.