Labscape for education: Ballard High School Pilot Project

The University of Washington's Cell Systems Initiative in cooperation with the Seattle School District conducted a pilot test of the Labscape hardware and software system in a genetics classroom at Ballard High School from April to June of 2002. The purpose of this pilot project was to determine the educational impact of the system and to evaluate the fit of the system for an educational environment. A Biotech classroom at Ballard High School was equipped with four touch-screen flat panel computers, connected via the school's network system to the Internet. One of the computers acted as the services machine running the Labscape database and sending and receiving information to the other three machines. A protocol selected by the teacher was programmed into the Labscape system, and instructions from the paper protocol were embedded directly into the Labscape interactive protocol. Resource webpages containing information about materials, methods, and biochemistry were linked to the protocol through the Labscape interface. Three students were selected by the teacher to participate in the pilot. Students learned to use the Labscape system in a 1 h session in which they were given a short written overview of the system and a series of tasks to complete. No formal instruction in system use was given. Under teacher supervision, students then carried out an experiment from the existing genetics course curriculum utilising the Labscape system to guide and record their work and results. Student knowledge of the experiment and its theoretical underpinnings was evaluated both before and after the pilot using two assessment tools: a multiple choice quiz and an open-ended knowledge questionnaire. Student participant results of the multiple choice quiz were compared to results obtained from 48 other students in the genetics class at Ballard High School. The educational impact, although difficult to measure with such a small sample size, indicated increased understanding of the experiment on the knowledge questionnaire. All three students responded more articulately, completely, and correctly to a number of questions. The accessibility of the Labscape system for students in an educational setting was evaluated as well with a usability questionnaire and interviews of both students and teacher. The pilot project showed that the Labscape system was easily accessible to students, and that students quickly reached a level of comfort and proficiency with the system. In addition, students expressed positive opinions of the system's applicability to lab experiments, listing benefits in the areas of speed and organisation. We believe these results indicate a positive impact on learning and a good fit for the high-school environment. We plan to expand the project to an entire genetics class at Ballard High School and to two other selected schools from the Renton school district.