Go-Lab (Global Online Science Labs for Inquiry Learning at School) is an online sharing and authoring platform for educators and students to create, complete, and share labs, apps, and inquiry learning spaces (ILSs). The platform is designed for science teachers in both early and upper grades to incorporate innovative technical learning opportunities for their students over the Web. The Go-Lab consists of two spaces: The Sharing platform and the Authoring platform. In these spaces, you’ll find resources in various languages created by educators from all over the world and have the opportunity to create your own lessons and learning spaces to share with others.
The Sharing platform (GoLabz) includes a collection of resources--online labs, apps, and ILSs. The labs are created by research institutions, tech providers, and educators worldwide with the purpose of providing an authentic lab experience virtually for K-12 students. Labs come in three forms: Remote labs (physical labs that can be operated at a distance), virtual labs (software that mimics physical equipment), and data sets/analysis tools (databases of real scientific data). They target a variety of subject domains, including Astronomy, Biology, Chemistry, Engineering, Environmental Education, Geography and Earth Science, Mathematics, Physics, and Technology.
Labs are also sorted by ‘Big Ideas of Science,’ such as Energy Transformation, Fundamental Forces, Our Universe, Structure of Matter, Microcosm, Evolution and Biodiversity, Organisms and Life Forms, and Planet Earth. Labs are also offered in a variety of languages—64 to be exact! And, although labs are available for all of K-12 students and content areas, most labs are ideal for students between sixth and 10th grade.
In addition to labs, you’ll also find apps, or Inquiry Learning Apps, which are software tools that support the inquiry process, focusing on Orientation, Conceptualization, Investigation, Conclusion, and Discussion. These apps help students create hypotheses, interpret data, take quizzes, and track progress. They can also be combined with labs to create ILSs and are created by educators to personalize the learning experience for their students.
The Authoring platform (Graasp) is where educators can go to create their own labs and ILSs. The goal of an ILS is “to provide students with an opportunity to conduct scientific experiments, being guided through the inquiry process and supported at each step.” It is in this platform where teachers can add media and files to their ILSs. The teacher can then share these spaces with her students, track progress, and provide support.
Teachers can also adapt existing ILSs in addition to creating new ones. If teachers want to submit their own labs, they must own rights to the lab, agree to free usage, and adhere to other technology standards—and they are always reviewed by an expert before being published.
If you’ve been searching for a virtual platform for your students to conduct labs or an easy way for you to create and share your own, head over to the Go-Lab site. Once you’ve checked out Go-Lab, make sure to head over to our store to see hands-on EdTech tools for your school. We have everything from classroom kits to robotics and much more that can help enrich your EdTech initiatives. Don’t forget to follow us on social media for the latest Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram updates for all things EdTech.