Oscar van Linden (division of Innovation in Human Health & Life Sciences, iH2LS) has been awarded a Comenius Teaching Fellow grant for the project ‘Online experimental design, peer-review and virtual laboratory: future resistant hybrid practical courses’ from The Netherlands Initiative for Education Research (NRO).
Practical courses are essential components of the Beta- and Life Sciences educational programs. However, practical courses are costly because they require expensive lab facilities and intensive supervision. This often leads to the implementation of so-called “Cook Book” practical's in which students certainly learn technical skills, but that usually contributes little to understanding the Nature of Science (NOS). In this project, Van Linden et al. develop a practical course workflow process that focusses on the development of the experimental design. Via an online preparation process students design their own experiments, while being guided by (automated) feedback. The produced experimental designs are peer-reviewed and defended by the students, before entering the lab. The grant has been awarded within theme 4: Free theme – the entire scope of Fit for the Future. The application has been judged “very good” which resulted in a 3rd place ranking out of 53 proposals.
More information can be found via: Previously granted Comenius projects | NRO