USING VIRTUAL LABORATORIES IN TEACHING OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES Daniela TRIFAN Engineering Faculty from Braila, “Dunarea de Jos” University from Galati, Romania
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Abstract: Virtual labs that are the subject of this study were designed to help our students from Agronomy, in the following disciplines: Plant Breeding, Plant Physiology, Entomology, Pedology and Phytopathology. The virtual laboratory has the following advantages: - students can download laboratory works and view video presentations in their home, - supplement classroom exercises to improve understanding, - long-term experiences can be easily tracked and understood in these laboratories in a few minutes; - student homework is motivating, fun and insight building, - opportunities for independent exploration for highly motivated students. This study was conducted in the first semester of the academic year 2010 - 2011, showing a better understanding of these disciplines by students, reflected in their results of exams. Keywords: virtual labs, agricultural sciences.
I.
INTRODUCTION
Virtual laboratories that wish to introduce in this paper, are the reflection in the virtual world of the Internet of physic laboratories that from Department of Agriculture, University “Dunarea de Jos” from Galati, Romania. Because in the last time the focus is increasingly on the quality of teaching, as well as the accessibility to information, the role of these virtual labs is to extend access to post-secondary educational opportunities for individuals who work combine with study, and for students who want to deepen the concepts taught in class. In this context, we developed the virtual laboratories of Plant Breeding, Plant Physiology, Entomology, Phytopathology and Pedology. For students in years II, III and IV in Agriculture. These laboratories do not require installing any special software, which are posted as individual pages on the Internet, access being achieved using Internet Explorer or Mozilla Firefox. Access may be permitted only on the pass code, a finite set of users, groups ranked respectively the years of study.
II.
PRESENTATION OF VIRTUAL LABORATORIES
2.1
Virtual lab access and presentation of the main page
Each main page has a virtual laboratory in which video format is a presentation of the laboratory and main menu, which includes links to two semesters, topics, student forum, selfassessment tests and contact details, as seen in Figure 1.
Figure 1. Homepage examples of virtual laboratories To avoid becoming boring access to virtual labs, I realized different formats for each subject separately. For example, the steps to access of laboratory of Entomology are: - the student enters in the semester page, using the existing menu; - the student can access each virtual laboratory, where they can download in PDF. format essay and laboratory work can be viewed in video format that made in the class presentation, and other videos of interest for each paper (Figure 2).
Figure 2. Presentation of several pages of virtual laboratories Thus, physiological processes or long-term experiences can be view in few minutes, with explanations for each method or phenomenon aimed work. At the bottom of the page, there is another menu, which students can access the next or previous work laboratory or can return to the home page. Video presentations of long-term experiences or processes are grouped at the bottom of the page for each work, so students can better visualize and understand the material presented in the paper. (Figure 3)
Figure 3. Examples of video presentations of the Entomology virtual laboratory The Plant Physiology virtual laboratory is simple in the sense that the student can download the entire laboratory notebook, both semesters of the academic year, from the main page, then can access the video presentations were presented at the classes. In the virtual laboratory of Phytopathology, third-year students can take each semester and can download papers or view video presentations, but they can also start accessing the page with self-assessment tests or atlas of phytopathogenic agents, which can be printed or can be viewed online. Also, from each page semester, the student can access the forum, where they can discuss different topics about each virtual laboratory, may socialize or interact with the teacher and classmates anytime of the year (Figure 4).
Figure 4. Access to information from the semester pages of virtual labs
III.
TRANSFER OF INFORMATION TO STUDENTS
Virtual laboratories have four main elements that help students in acquiring new knowledge in each discipline of agronomy. They have information in the form of essays, photographs and films of studied experiences, assessment tests and access to the forum in which students can raise questions, start discussions on the topics covered or in other topics of interest to them. In general, all virtual laboratories presented in this paper have similar structure, but they are just different layout to attract more students. The advantages of such transfer of information to students are: - there’s no time or place restrictions on the access; - it is good to explain concepts and to allow interactivity; - the student may see the experience of very long duration in few minutes, meaning more easy the phenomena and processes that have taken place; - they allow the establishment of patterns to divulge scientific work, mainly in experimental areas, like agricultural sciences; - to allow the share of resources those were limited to an unlimited number of persons, in time.
IV.
VIRTUAL LABORATORIES RESULTS OF STUDENTS
EFFICIENCY REFLECTED IN
EXAMS
To study efficiency of virtual laboratories, it was compared the results of students in three consecutive semesters, for Soil science discipline (Pedology). In the first semester, we used the classical way of teaching, in the second semester we used a modern way of teaching using PowerPoint and video presentations, and in the third semester we introduced the virtual laboratory. The results were compared to students in this period, the results of the female students and male students, and the results are framed in TABLE 1. Groups of students had the following structure: - in first semester – 16 students: 4 female students and 12 male students; - in second semester – the same students as in first semester; - in third semester – 26 students: 8 female students and 17 male students. TABLE 1. Results obtained by students to assess knowledge, soil science discipline in three years of study Teaching methods Classic manner Modern manner Virtual labs Class evaluation Female Male Female Male Female Male students students students students students students A % A % A % A % A % A % Insufficient = under 5 2 16,6 Sufficient = 6 to 7
1
25
5
41,6
-
-
4
33,3
-
-
2
11,7
Well = 8 to 9
2
50
3
25
2
50
5
41,6
3
37,5
10
58,8
Very well = 10
1
25
2
16,6
2
50
3
25
5
62,5
5
29,5
Increased in the last semester results reveal that virtual laboratories have helped students to understand better the topics of soil science, one reason being that the students had access from home to the same modern style of teaching (PowerPoint and video presentations), even if they could come to the classes of the faculty. It is very important to have access to information in a more enjoyable and interactive manner that help all students to fully understand new concepts and not get bored. In Figure 5 are plotted the results of students, observing the good results in many more students by accessing virtual labs, compared to modern way of teaching in the class.
Figure 5. Results of Soil Science discipline for each manner of teaching (classic, modern and virtual laboratories)
It can see that results of students were much better in the case with virtual labs, with most 10% like modern manner of teaching and with most 35% like classic manner of teaching.
V.
CONCLUSIONS
Establish a quality teaching process, in accordance with the requirements of a postmodern society and standards set by Romania accession to the European Union since 2007, can only be achieved through modern methods of teaching, most of which proved to be effective with multimedia programs, but more important is accessibility to students all the information the teacher wants to forward. If until now, virtual laboratories were an indispensable component for distance learning, it can say that now they are a necessity for most students who work and learn at the same time as multimedia presentations are very important for disciplines that include explanations of certain phenomena or processes that occur in a long time. This is why we can say that agricultural sciences approach to the topic for many disciplines that are studied in college and universities. Besides all this, the method of learning, understanding and information deepen the virtual laboratory is much easier, efficient and pleasant at the same time. All papers can be downloaded in PDF or in wmf. format by all students who access virtual laboratories, which then allows them to view them offline. It may be mentioned that the method is environmentally, students are not obliged to print information on paper, which is becoming increasingly important, considering the current trend of increasing global warming. Therefore, I recommend all teachers to teach agricultural disciplines including the form of virtual labs.
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