Introduction

Both teachers and students may more effectively achieve the goals of the educational process via the use of virtual laboratories. In the field of e-learning, the use of virtual science labs is widely recognized as being among the most critical instructional methods. This is achieved by removing any restrictions on the students' ability to put the theoretical concepts they have learned in the classroom into practice at any time and in any place they choose, regardless of the nature of such restrictions. Students can electronically record their results in virtual laboratories online and share them with their classmates so that they may gain knowledge from the experiences of one another. On the other hand, the cost of obtaining many devices to teach staff members in a physical place is much greater. In addition, the expense of maintaining all of this apparatus will be more than the cost of maintaining a single platform.

10 things about Virtual Labs you may not have known

Virtual labs can be an essential component of an educational institution's efforts to establish contingency plans for natural disasters or other disruptions of campus activities, as well as expand access to lab-based courses to a more significant number of students from broader demographic backgrounds. Let's look at ten facts regarding virtual labs that we probably weren't aware of until today.

Virtual learning labs are not just about science

When we think about virtual laboratories, the first thing that often comes to mind is a computer game that simulates working in a virtual lab for chemistry. However, virtual labs may be used for more than only conducting scientific experiments and analyzing chemical processes. They have the potential to be helpful tools in a wide variety of fields.

Learning from failure is effective

It is more productive to let pupils make errors and learn from them than to protect them from the outside world with a protective bubble before releasing them into it. Learning from failure, also known as Productive Failure, is the process of purposefully putting students in positions where they are likely to fail so that they can experience what happens when they make mistakes, learn from their mistakes, and then figure out how to avoid making the same mistakes again in the future.

Students can better comprehend and retain material when given opportunities to experience failure, think about their mistakes, and then attempt the task again. Virtual learning triumphs over more conventional methods of instruction in this regard because it provides an atmosphere that is optimal for productive failure. This is the key to its success.

Virtual environments are safe to fail in

There are an infinite number of scenarios that might arise in a variety of learning contexts in which the learner is required to perform tasks in potentially hazardous conditions—for instance, learning how to land an aeroplane, utilizing potentially harmful tools in a workplace, or interacting with potentially deadly chemicals or pathogens such as salmonella all fall under this category. Children need to be exposed to things like this to learn and improve their talents, despite the apparent safety dangers associated with these activities, in such scenarios virtual lab simulations are very handy.

Limited or no access to physical laboratories

Students and staff members may not always have unrestricted access to a laboratory at any time (e.g., due to social distancing guidelines because of a pandemic due to limited capacity).

Flexible access

The flexibility of online education, which allows students to study at their own pace and at times most conducive to their learning, is perhaps the advantage mentioned most often. The same may be said for virtual science labs, provided that the student conducts the experiments on their own time.

Relevance

Putting an emphasis on the usefulness or relevance of the material learned in biology classes is one strategy for improving students' overall performance in the subject as well as their ability to remember what they have learned. When students are exposed to topics that do not seem to be significant, it is possible that they may get distracted and lack the drive to perform effectively. The educational institutions must look into purchasing a good science learning app which would help students be exposed in the above manner. schools in time for the pupils to get used to the computers.

Students learn in different ways and at different speeds

We all take in information in various ways, whether by sight, sound, or touch; also, the pace at which we absorb new information varies from person to person. An online learning platform allows each student to study in their style and at their own pace, in contrast to traditional classroom settings, in which students passively absorb knowledge in a predetermined format and at a predetermined speed.

Top-notch equipment

When conducting experiments, educational institutions and students that utilize virtual laboratories have access to the most cutting-edge technologies. Companies that construct and operate virtual laboratories are forced to compete with one another to remain ahead of the advancement of technology, which ultimately benefits students by improving the quality of their available alternatives.

Increased participation

The learner is allowed to repeat the experiment several times depending on his or her capacity to take in the information. This is often difficult to do in a practical laboratory due to the restricted amount of materials available and the inadequate amount of equipment available in relation to the number of pupils.

Conclusion

The use of virtual laboratories and lab simulations has resulted in significant time and labour savings. In addition, they got rid of many of the challenges that the instructor and the students had to overcome to carry out the experiments. Because they made it easier to perform tests in settings other than traditional laboratories, students can acquire fundamental technological procedures and practise methods utilized by lab workers and researchers via virtual labs, which maintain the benefits of conventional learning.