LAB DATA GENERATOR
Role
Description
The Lab Data Generator is an online WebGL interactive simulation app widely used by students at universities across Australia. It has been under development since 2019 in collaboration with Professor Gareth Denyer, who served as the primary supervisor and lead on the project.
This tool enables instructors to provide students with authentic learning experiences, accessible regardless of their location. During experiments, students must design and set up their 96-well plates. As the experiment progresses, they experience the outcomes of their design choices, learning from both successful strategies and any mistakes. In the blood ethanol practical, for instance, students analyze their calculations, the robustness of their data, and the accuracy of their techniques to determine whether the subjects in question should be convicted, according to labarchives.com.
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UX - UI Interaction Techniques
Initial Prototype
Conclusion
Educational Lab Simulation Tool
The culmination of this project is an innovative educational tool designed to enhance experimental troubleshooting skills through lab simulations. These simulations are meticulously crafted to provide users with realistic experiences of laboratory procedures, complete with the outcomes of various decisions, whether they are mistakes or well-executed plans. Each session within the software generates unique datasets, authentically incorporating systematic errors, thereby mirroring real-life experimental conditions.
Utility in Educational Contexts
- Running Plagiarism-Free Assignments
- Encouraging Reflective Learning
- Real-Time Decision-Making Feedback
- Facilitating Iterative Experimentation
- Data Analysis Practice
- Validating Experimental Results
The primary aim is to collaborate with course coordinators to produce data-generators and simulators tailored to specific practical class experiments. This approach goes beyond merely explaining or rehearsing steps in a process. Instead, it immerses the user in the entire spectrum of the experimental process: from designing the setup, managing the execution, analyzing data, to discerning final results and understanding the limitations of the techniques used.
Key Components
Key components of the software include the Virtual Glucose Assay and Basic Liquid Handling simulations, each designed to challenge and develop different aspects of the user's experimental skills, from planning and execution to data analysis and critical judgment. This holistic approach to science education positions the software as a pivotal tool in enhancing experimental competency and critical thinking in scientific learning environments.